imperialism, the main obstruction of historical progress,
the basic force oppressing the peoples and a
source of the threat of a nuclear war.
Progress Publishers
Moscow
[4]Translated from the Russian by DAVID FIDLON
This book has been prepared by a group of authors headed by A. N. Yakovlev and including S. I. Beglov, N. B. Bikkenin, K. N. Brutents, V. J. Kelle, A. Z. Okorokov, F. F. Petrenko, A. I. Volkov and V. V. Zagladin.
OCHOBbI nOJlHTHHECKHX 3HAHHH
Ha amAuucKOM xauiKe
__COPYRIGHT__ First printing 1975Fundamentals of Political Science is intended for those who are beginning to study Marxism-Leninism.
Whether we are considering international affairs or the economy, morality or the utilisation of science and the ethos of culture, education or ideology, the past, the present or the future, we inevitably meet with problems of politics.
What, then, is politics?
Lenin said that politics is relations between
classes, it is ``participation in the affairs of
It has become precisely that in socialist society.
But in order consciously to appraise politics, to comprehend the complex interlacing of social phenomena, and to become an active participant in the building of a new life, one must steadily _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 41, p. 382.
8 expand his knowledge of the laws of social development and the principal trends in the world historical process.This book concisely defines the basic scientific concepts of society and the laws of its development and shows what determines the social activity of people.
Nevertheless a mere knowledge of the theoretical foundations of politics is not enough, it is also important to observe politics in action, to see its objectives and results. To show all this the authors use the example of the Soviet state: they trace the historic path covered by the Soviet people since the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, describe how Lenin's plan of socialist construction in the USSR was carried into effect, and expound the principles of the socio-economic and political structure of Soviet society, a society of developed socialism.
Inasmuch as the Leninist Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) is the tested political leader of the multinational Soviet people guiding their efforts to build communist society, the authors have set themselves the task of showing how the Party directs this enormously complicated work and carries through its policies.
The greater part of the book, therefore, deals with the present and future of the USSR.
Many fresh, creative ideas have been injected into the life of the Soviet people by the 24th CPSU Congress, the decisions adopted at the Plenary Meetings of the CPSU Central Committee, and the theoretical and political documents 9 bearing on the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, the centenary of V. I. Lenin's birth and the 50th anniversary of the USSR. The Report of the CPSU Central Committee to the 24th Party Congress, the decisions of CC CPSU Plenary Meetings, and General Secretary of the CC CPSU Leonid Brezhnev's report ``The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" provide a profound analysis of the basic features of the present-day development of the Soviet Union, and of key international issues. In the light of this analysis the authors examine the economy of a developed socialist society, the country's socio-political development and ideological and educational work. They devote considerable attention to problems of communist education, the shaping of the ideological and moral image of the individual and the elimination of all negative aspects in human behaviour which are incompatible with the morality and mode of life of Soviet socialist society.
Communist construction in the USSR is inseparable from the development of the world revolutionary process. Special chapters deal with the experience of other socialist countries, the revolutionary struggle of the international working class and the national liberation movement of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the CPSU's foreign policy activities and the Programme of Peace advanced by its 24th Congress.
[10] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER I __ALPHA_LVL1__ HUMAN SOCIETY: ITS DEVELOPMENT __ALPHA_LVL2__ BASIC CONCEPTSMan is a social being and therefore cannot exist outside society. What is man and what is human society? What are the relations between them?
In order to exist people must eat and dress, have dwellings, and so forth. They produce their food and clothes and build dwellings with the help of instruments of labour. The production of the instruments of labour and everything else necessary for life is an eternal, natural and essential basis of man's existence.
In the process of production the human individual sets the instruments of labour, machines in motion and with their help acts upon metal, wood, soil and other objects of labour in order to obtain the necessary product. The employment of the instruments of labour to produce the required products is labour, i.e., the purposeful practical activity of a human individual. Not only man but some animals, too, possess the ability to create: birds build nests, beavers build log dams across rivers, and monkeys use sticks 11 and stones for specific purposes. But not a single animal can improve or develop its ``production''. Only the history of man and humanity is characterised by a continuous improvement of the means of labour and ways of producing them.
What distinguishes human labour from the activity of animals is its conscious, purposeful character. Karl Marx wrote that what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is that he raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality, while the bee builds its honeycombs instinctively. The bee does not have to be taught to build honeycombs. This knowledge is instinctive. All the other bees before it built exactly the same honeycombs.
Man, however, sets himself a goal, evolves a plan for achieving it and acts accordingly. This type of activity is characteristic of man only: it was inherent in him in the past, when he engaged in primitive hunting, and it is inherent today, when he controls the most sophisticated machinery.
We know that man's labour is connected with his consciousness. But consciousness in its turn is closely connected with speech, with language, by means of which man communicates with other human beings, expressing and conveying his thoughts to them. Articulate speech is characteristic of man alone, and each generation as it grows up has to learn a language in order to be able to participate in joint activity. Animals also emit sounds signalling food, danger, and so forth, but these sounds cannot be called speech. Speech 12 is connected with man's ability to generalise, to think in abstract terms, i.e., to comprehend things and phenomena.
Thus, labour, consciousness and speech are qualities which distinguish man from animals and endow him with the ability to engage in forms of joint activity inherent only in the human individual.
Insofar as people work and act jointly they enter into definite relations which are called social relations. People with their activity and mutual relations comprise a society. Since society can exist and develop only in the process of human activity, man can be only a social being. To understand a man, his way of life and thinking, it is necessary in the first place to determine the type of society in which he lives and what this society stands for. Therefore all social sciences are sciences about human beings.
Man studies life and cognises nature. Science has explored the atom, it is discovering ever new sources of energy and is studying celestial bodies. People must be armed with knowledge in order to apprehend the world in which they live and consciously to transform nature in the interests of mankind. At the same time man must possess knowledge about society, about himself. But mankind covered a long and difficult path of development before it witnessed the rise of social science giving people a true knowledge of the laws of social development.
This happened when the proletariat emerged as an active revolutionary force and placed the 13 struggle for the socialist reconstruction of life on the agenda of historical development. The brilliant creators of this science were Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Vladimir Lenin.
The Marxist science of society is called historical materialism. A study of this science discloses the substance of the historical process and its motive forces, the structure of society at various stages of history, the role played by the masses and the individual in social development and the place of socialism in human history and prospects of its further development. This knowledge is essential to everyone who wants to comprehend the surrounding world, the meaning of events and the significance of the struggle for humanity's better future---the communist future.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ SOCIAL FORMATIONS. PRODUCTIONLiving conditions in various epochs and countries differed substantially from each other, just as they do today, when there are about 200 states with an aggregate population of 3,700 million in the world. There are even some countries with remnants of the tribal system or those with feudal relations. People live in capitalist and socialist states, i.e., at different levels of social development.
14A specific historical stage in the development of society is called a socio-economic formation. The history of mankind is not a conglomerate of incidental events, but a definite process leading from bottom to top, from the simplest to the more sophisticated types of socio-economic formations. In the course of its development from the lowest social formation, the primitive-- communal system, to the communist formation, which is the highest and whose first stage is socialism, mankind passes through the slave-owning system, feudalism and capitalism. Each nation at a given period of its existence belongs to one or another formation, depending on the level of its socioeconomic development.
However different are the history, culture and modes of life of such countries as the USA, FRG, Britain, France, Italy, Japan and Australia, all of them are capitalist countries where factories, land, roads, forests, mineral deposits, etc., are owned by the capitalists. That determines other aspects of life in capitalist society: political, for power likewise belongs to those who own the wealth, and intellectual, for science, culture and education are levers by means of which the ruling class strengthens its position.
A characteristic feature of socialist countries is the domination of public ownership of the means of production which engenders relations of co-operation between people and eliminates exploitation of man by man. Compared with capitalism, socialism is a higher stage of social development. It appeared as a result of socialist 15 revolutions and subsequent economic, socio-- political and cultural transformations.
We have already said that survivals of precapitalist formations still exist in a number of countries, including some African ones, whose development has been greatly retarded as a result of protracted colonial rule of the imperialist states. The imperialists held on to these countries as sources of raw materials and cheap manpower for the advanced capitalist states. The majority of the formerly enslaved countries have already freed themselves of colonial domination. Given the necessary conditions they will be able to take the path of non-capitalist development; whether this will happen or not will depend on the outcome of the acute struggle between progressive and reactionary forces.
The economy and politics, the state and the law, technology and science, everything is interconnected in a human society, and changes in any one sphere engender changes in another. The interaction of all aspects of social life takes place on the basis of the production of essential material wealth.
Inasmuch as the history of mankind is a succession of socio-economic formations it is very important to have a thorough knowledge of structure of each of these formations, i.e., the interaction of all the forces operating in a society in a given period of time.
16 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The StructureThe existence of any human society depends on the production of material wealth. Production is a very broad concept. As a rule people engage in specific types of production. For instance, field husbandry, gardening, orcharding and animal husbandry are types of agricultural production. The extraction of coal, oil, and ore are branches of the mining industry. The heavy industry produces machines and other means of labour, while the light and food industry turns out fabrics, shoes and foodstuffs. All these branches are closely interconnected: industry supplies agriculture with machines, and agriculture supplies industrial enterprises with raw materials.
Modern production is inconceivable without transport and communications, research and designing institutes and other branches of labour.
The chief element of any type of production is the means of labour, i.e., machines and mechanisms, fuel and other power resources, storehouses and factory buildings, everything that man uses to produce the necessary products and to act on nature. At the same time it is impossible to carry on production without people possessing adequate knowledge, experience and skill. The means of labour and people who use these means comprise society's productive forces.
In addition to making food, clothes, dwellings, means of labour and everything else that is necessary for life, people enter into what are 17 called relations of production. Without these relations they would be unable to live together. The forces of production and the relations of production together define the mode of production.
Each socio-economic formation has its own mode of production: the feudal mode of production is the basis of the feudal formation, the capitalist mode of production is the basis of the capitalist formation, and so forth.
Why is the mode of production the determinative basis of life and social development?
Labour productivity and, consequently, society's wealth depend on the level of development of the means of labour and on how successfully people learn to master them. At the dawn of the human history instruments of labour were extremely primitive. The man employed stone axes, spears, bows and arrows and wooden hoes with which he hunted, fished, gathered fruits and engaged in primitive farming. Naturally, such a production base was not conducive to the rise of a prosperous and flourishing society.
The appearance of improved instruments of labour stimulated the development of society. A most important development in the productive forces was the transition from handicrafts tools, which people used over many centuries, to machine production which first appeared in England in the latter half of the 18th century. The improvement in production was so significant that it came to be known as the industrial revolution. The rapid and widespread introduction of machine production gave a powerful impetus to the 18 development and consolidation of capitalist relations.
Thus each social formation rests on a definite level of development of the forces of production.
Social formations differ from one another in the first place in the relations of production. The relations of production are determined by the form of ownership of the basic means of production, i.e., the objects and means of labour. In Ancient Rome, for example, wealthy landowners possessed great landed estates (latifundia), the tools for cultivating the land and the slaves who worked on it. This form of ownership determined the relations between people in the process of production as relations between a slave and a slave-owner. The slave-owning form of ownership gave rise to the slave-owning social system.
Under capitalism ownership has a different character. The capitalist owns only the means of production, while the worker is formally free, he can be neither bought nor sold. Yet, in order to exist, a worker is compelled to sell his labour power, to get a job at a capitalist enterprise where the capitalist is the owner and the worker does what he is hired to do, where the former gets the profits and the latter a wage. As a result society's main wealth accumulates in the hands of the capitalists.
The relations of production are called the economic basis of society. In other words, the basis is the economic system of a society at a given stage of its development. A corresponding 19 superstructure arises on the basis. The conception ``superstructure'' also embraces a wide sphere of human relations. It is the political relations between various classes with their programmes of struggle for power; it is the state with all its instruments of compulsion in the form of the army, courts and prisons; it is the ideology of the various classes and social groups expressed in various forms---political, legal, moral, aesthetic, religious and philosophic. What unites all these heterogeneous phenomena?
They have at least two common features. First, they stem from the society's economic basis. Second, they serve to perpetuate, strengthen and develop the economic system on whose basis they have appeared, or to overthrow it, when they are the programmes and ideologies of the exploiting classes.
Let us examine the relation between politics and economy, for example. The politics of every class is determined chiefly by its economic interests. What is a capitalist's main interest? Since he owns property and money, he is concerned with preserving the social system which ensures his wealth and strengthening the relations which enable him to multiply his capital. It is this economic interest which above all determines the policies of the capitalist class and capitalist states, a policy of strengthening and consolidating the foundations of capitalism, a policy of fighting against the revolutionary and national liberation movement, a policy of anti-communism. This relation between politics and economy is __PRINTERS_P_19_COMMENT__ 2* 20 definitely and concisely expressed in the Marxist formula: politics is the concentrated expression and consummation of economy.
Of course, politics is relatively independent with regard to economy and can exert great influence upon it. In order to explain the policy of a state we should have to take into account not only the economic interests of the ruling class in a given state, but also the latter's position in the system of other states, its historical and national traditions, the correlation of its social forces and many other factors. Still, the politics of a state depends in the first place on its economic situation and the economic interests of its ruling class.
Other superstructural phenomena are removed from economy further than politics and are not linked directly with economy. In the final count, however, the superstructure and all its components are either engendered by the economic basis, or are determined by it either directly or indirectly. We should always bear this in mind if we wish to examine scientifically the politics of one or another state, class or party, the essence of their political programmes and declarations, the character of the ideas dominating a given society.
Politics, being a concentrated expression of economy, serves it by supporting a corresponding social system. Any state has an apparatus of coercion and an apparatus of administration with which it protects and upholds the existing order. This means that elements of the superstructure 21 engendered by economy are not passive, but forcefully act on the basis.
All the elements of the superstructure are connected by their common origin and their social function.
The basis and superstructure taken together characterises every social formation: the basis expresses its economic foundation, while the superstructure expresses its political and ideological forms. Thus, in a feudal state the nobility, landowners and feudal lords held the dominating position. As a rule feudal states were monarchies. Society was divided into estates, each with its strictly defined rights, and transition from a lower estate to a higher one was almost impossible. The bourgeois state proclaimed the formal equality of citizens before the law and abolished the estates. In this state people were distinguished by their economic status, by their wealth, in the first place. Karl Marx used to say that a bourgeois carried his power in his pocket. This power is money. All the other distinctions between people recede into the background in the face of this chief idol of capitalist society.
It follows, therefore, that every society, i.e., every social formation, differs from another not only as regards its economic, but also as regards its political system.
The appearance of a socialist society gives rise to a qualitatively new type of state---the dictatorship of the proletariat, which gradually develops into a socialist state of the entire people.
Every social formation is dominated by ideas 22 reflecting the interests of the ruling class. In the Middle Ages (6th-16th centuries), for instance, the Catholic Church was a tremendous social force in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and some other countries and the religious Catholic ideology was predominant there. The Church subjugated everything: science and art, and morality, and was a great political force at the same time. Hence, it was only natural that the first actions undertaken by the bourgeoisie against feudalism had the form of religious movements. Further on, science joined the fight against feudalism. The most consistent struggle against the ruling religious ideology was waged by 17th-18th century materialist philosophers who attuned people's mentality for the impending bourgeois revolution.
Religion has lost its leading position in a bourgeois society, although it retains considerable ideological influence. Having cast off the oppression of the Church natural sciences made great progress in their development. And an important role in bourgeois society is played by political and legal ideology.
This means that transition from one social formation to another is accompanied by important changes both in the basis and the superstructure, and these transformations attest to the birth of a new society.
As we have gathered from the above, the production of material wealth is the core of any social formation and, consequently, of all the important changes in the development of human society.
23 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Society and NatureIn the process of labour man interacts with nature, which itself is a general object of labour. The process of labour is in fact the transformation of nature, the adaptation of natural objects to man's requirements. And so it follows that natural conditions influence the process of labour and can be either propitious or unfavourable. Yet people can surmount unfavourable effects of natural conditions. For instance, the rigorous conditions of the Far North with its long cold winters, long polar nights and permafrost deprive people of the possibility of engaging in agriculture and create great difficulties for the development of industry, trade and the construction of communications. It was due to these factors that the peoples of the Far North had remained at the level of the tribal system in their social development. The October Socialist Revolution and the assistance of the other peoples of the Soviet Union opened the road to modern forms of life for the ethnic groups of north and the rise of socialist relations among them.
While in the past the peoples of the Far North engaged solely in fishing and deer-breeding, now there are towns and a developing heavy industry inside the Arctic Circle. One such town is Norilsk. It has a mining and metallurgical combine, factories turning out pre-fabricated house parts, cement and ferro-concrete items and other industrial enterprises. It also has a college of mining and metallurgy, a repertoire drama theatre, etc. The Far North's immense natural wealth 24 has promoted the rapid development of industry and construction. But in order to surmount the unfavourable influence of the natural conditions, man must have the necessary material means and a high level of production.
At the early stages of the development of human society, when the means of labour were extremely primitive, man depended to an enormous degree on nature, on the elemental forces. For example, he depended on whether his geographical environment was rich in fish, game and edible plants, inasmuch as his principal sources of livelihood were hunting, fishing and the gathering, of edible plants. Later, when people began to cultivate land, their welfare depended largely on the climate and soil fertility. With the development of heavy industry which takes in metals, mineral raw materials, coal, oil, the energy of rivers and so forth in enormous quantities, territories abounding in these natural resources acquired the utmost importance. Today people utilise the earth's natural wealth in vast and ever increasing amounts; that means that the question of its economical and rational use is a matter of the greatest significance for the further development of human society.
Consequently, natural conditions can and do influence the development of production, either favourably or unfavourably, promoting the development of a given society or retarding its progress. At the same time the character and the strength of their influence depend on the level of a nation's social development.
25Society not only experiences the influence of natural conditions, it also alters them. As the productive forces of society developed, people acquired increasingly powerful means of acting on their natural environment. They were able to transform nature to an ever greater degree and adapt it to their own requirements. Today nature in its primordial state has been preserved most probably only in the polar regions, in the impassable taiga and the ocean depths. The reason is obvious. A modern advanced state cannot exist without large towns, industrial complexes, a ramified system of railways and highways, numerous canals and man-made reservoirs, fields, orchards, and so forth.
Soviet socialist society has set itself the task of steadily transforming nature in the interests of man in order to create the most favourable conditions for his life and health.
But the relationship between man and nature is a many-sided, complicated problem, and society must foresee how its utilisation of natural resources affects nature itself. At times environmental changes favourable to man are accompanied by unexpected and harmful consequences. And the more powerful the means of man's acting on nature, the more adverse may be the impact if society fails to control its own interaction with nature.
This problem has never been as acute as it is today. Once it was generally believed that any harm which industry might cause nature was subsequently neutralised by the elements 26 themselves. Reality, however, proved that this view was not only erroneous, but also dangerous, for changes harmful to man taking place in nature may prove to be irreversible. Today the air and water pollution from industrial waste, the destruction of forests and the contamination of huge areas with various waste have acquired such enormous proportions that without the effective and systematic work by society it is practically impossible to combat the harm caused to nature. Yet, the domination of private property in capitalist society inhibits the introduction of broad measures to protect and improve the natural environment, and the monopolists' thirst for profits leads to predatory utilisation of the natural wealth.
The problem of relations between man and nature, or the ecological problem, as it is called, is becoming more and more international in character. The most favourable conditions for its solution, naturally, exist in socialist countries whose planned economy is subordinated to the interests of the people. Obviously, it is impossible to solve all problems arising there immediately, for that would have entailed vast financial outlays. But the Soviet state is using the available possibilities to build installations at industrial enterprises to protect the atmosphere and water from pollution, rehabilitate forests, prevent soil erosion, improve urban life (planting of trees in streets, combating noise, etc.), and use natural resources more rationally. The Soviet Government has promulgated the law ``On Measures of Further 27 Improving the Protection of Nature and the Rational Utilisation of the Natural Resources''. The protection of nature is not only the concern of society as a whole, but of each separate individual, too.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Law of the Conformity of the ProductionThe productive forces determine the development of society and define society's attitude to nature. Man's power over nature corresponds to the level of development of the forces of production.
Man's first tools were made of wood, stone and bone. Then people learned to smelt metal. The appearance of iron tools was a milestone in the development of the forces of production. Today people employ not only the materials which they find in nature, but also create new, synthetic materials possessing properties which man needs.
Here is another example. At first people used their own muscular energy to set the instruments of labour in motion, then they began to use the strength of animals. Gradually mankind learned to employ new types of energy: the energy of water and wind, steam and electricity, and now it also uses the energy of the atom.
__FIX__ Make gender neutral.The means of labour and the productive forces reflect the level of man's knowledge of nature and embody the production experience which he 28 has accumulated. The level of development of the productive forces is a gauge of society's progress. Production is the basic form of human activity. The relations between people in the process of production do not depend on the will of the people and take shape in conformity with the character of the productive forces. The necessity that relations of production should be adapted to the productive forces arises from the very substance of production. It is just as impossible, for example, to build capitalism in the stone age, or to establish primitive-communal relations on the basis of large-scale industry, as to dress a fullgrown man in baby clothes. If the productive forces correspond to the production relations then the former develop freely and society flourishes. But this conformity does not last for ever. The productive forces are in a state of constant change, for people are continuously improving the instruments of production. The development of productive forces can be very slow, so slow, in fact, that thousands of years pass by before any noticeable changes make their appearance, as was the case during the primitive-communal system. It can also be relatively fast, even very fast, when perceptible changes in productive forces take place in the course of centuries and even decades.
__FIX__ OCR output was missing paragraph break here. Check rest of ebook.The more sophisticated the means of production, the more advanced should be the production relations. This means that these relations must change. But in a capitalist as in any other exploiting society changes in the relations of production are inhibited by classes and groups which 29 are not interested in seeing them change. The relations begin to lag behind the productive forces with the result that they not only do not promote the latter's development but, to the contrary, slow down their growth. This causes a conflict. As a result it becomes necessary to replace the outmoded production relations with more progressive ones, and this means that the old social formation has outlived itself.
In an exploiting society such a situation calls not only for a change in the economic, but also in the political system inasmuch as the latter hinders the development of new production relations. Therefore the conflict between the new productive forces and the old relations of production is the economic foundation of social revolution which is the sole form of transition from one social formation to another.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Development of Socio-Economic FormationsMan has always been a social being. In primordial times people united according to their kinship into clans and tribes. Leading a nomad way of life they gathered edible plants, hunted and fished. Inside the clan matrimonial relations were prohibited and each clan united matrilinear relatives. Work was assigned according to the physical abilities of each individual. In other words there existed a sex-age division of labour. All that people obtained through joint labour was equally divided between them and thus they were able to keep themselves alive.
30What sort of production existed in those times?
The primitive man had such primitive tools that he could not exist by himself. This weakness of the individual in the face of nature was what forced people to unite. Only by living and working together could they stand up to nature and obtain food and other necessities. Evidently the primitive collective of people using individual primitive tools was the first productive force in human history. Collective labour and collective mode of life gave rise to equal distribution of products, i.e., to such relations of production which precluded the possibility of exploitation.
Due to the extremely slow growth of the productive forces the production relations remained in conformity with the collective productive force of a primitive clan for many thousands of years. Gradually, however, some tribes, either as a result of favourable natural conditions, or for other reasons, began to attain a higher level of development of productive forces compared to the mass of humanity scattered throughout the world. Cropping and livestock breeding appeared. Stone tools gave way to bronze and then iron. People obtained more reliable sources of food, began to lay in food supplies and accumulate diverse types of material wealth, i.e., the productive forces reached a level at which it became possible to obtain surplus product. Surplus product is that part of the produced material wealth which remains after most essential requirements are satisfied. The surplus product gave rise to two important trends in social development.
31First, it became possible to accumulate this product and redistribute it. In other words, there appeared an economic basis for the rise of inequality, when some clans, tribes or individuals began to seize cattle, weapons, etc., while others lost them. Plunder and, consequently, wars for wealth became possible.
Second, exploitation came into being. Exploitation means the appropriation of the fruits of someone else's labour. So long as people produced only as much as they needed to survive, an individual could not exploit the labour of another individual. But as soon as man began to produce more than he needed to survive, he opened the road to exploitation. Thus slavery was established.
Although the instruments of labour became more productive, they remained adapted to individual use, and an individual or a family could produce all they needed for sustenance: plough the land and keep cattle. Interest in common tribal economy disappeared. On the other hand, as we have said earlier, people could now accumulate wealth. All this undermined the foundations of primitive collectivism and equality in distribution. Society split into the rich and the poor, into the slaves and the slave-owners. Classes appeared. The primitive system gave way to a class society in which the economically dominant class lived at the expense of the labour of the oppressed class, thus engendering economic and social inequality and irreconcilable class contradictions.
32The transition to a class society was a progressive phenomenon because it considerably accelerated the growth of the productive forces. The accumulation of wealth facilitated exchange and trade, and towns developed as centres of trade and crafts. Groups of people who did not produce material wealth but devoted their time to diverse intellectual activity emerged in society. In other words, the era of the rise of a class society witnessed the separation of mental and physical labour, a most important precondition for the development of man's spiritual culture. The rise of classes was accompanied by the formation of states.
Social progress has a contradictory nature. When classes came into being, mankind began to advance at the expense of ruthless exploitation of the majority of the people, at the expense of the enslavement of the working people through sanguinary wars and plunder. Everything was placed on the altar of wealth and power; the basest human vices and instincts were rampant.
Such a society is called antagonistic.
History knows three antagonistic class societies: the slave-owning, feudal and capitalist.
Pre-capitalist class societies have one common feature: they have a primitive technical basis consisting of the wooden plough, hammer, axe, potter's wheel and other instruments of labour with which people obtained food and clothes, accumulated wealth, built houses, temples and sailing ships.
33Very little could be done to improve on these tools: a hammer is a hammer and an axe is an axe whatever their shapes. With such a technical basis the labour productivity was very low and that accounted for the slow development of the slave-owning and feudal societies.
The technical basis of a developed feudal society was higher than that of the slave-owning society which existed, for example, in Ancient Greece or Rome. The status of the toiling people was also different. A slave was the chattel of the slave-owner. A slave had neither property, nor family nor a home and he was not interested in the results of his labour.
The chief productive force in a feudal society was the peasant who was personally dependent on the feudal landowner. The most brutal semislave form of this dependence was serfdom. But a peasant had a home, family, tools and a plot of land, and although he was not a free man he was interested in obtaining more means for sustaining his family and himself, he had to pay labour rent (corvee), turn over a designated part of the harvest to the church, and so forth.
In the slave-owning and feudal societies the private character of the instruments of labour corresponded to the individual nature of the activity of a peasant or craftsman. Small-scale production and natural economy were predominant in both of them. The large-scale property of the slaveowner or the feudal lord developed on the basis of non-economic coercion, since neither the one nor the other could economically force the slave __PRINTERS_P_33_COMMENT__ 3---2052 34 or the serf of work for him. Such were the main features of these formations. Their antagonistic nature manifested itself in an acute class struggle which at times took the form of armed uprisings, including such major ones as the slave revolt against Rome led by Spartacus (74--71 B. C.), the revolt in England led by Wat Tyler in 1381, the peasant wars in Germany (1524--25) and in Russia led by Stepan Razin (1670--71) and Yemelyan Pugachev (1773--75).
The level of social development was not the same throughout the world, for the human society advances unevenly. In ancient times and the Middle Ages a considerable portion of people in Asia, Africa, Australia and America still lived in tribal systems. When the feudal system became established in some European countries, the decaying slave-owning system still existed in other parts of the world. This uneven development is observed throughout the history of mankind.
The next stage in the development of class antagonistic society was capitalism.
Machine production became the technical basis of capitalism, although the first signs of capitalist relations appeared long before the machine acquired a leading place in production. The qualitative leap occasioned by the emergence of machine production had far-reaching consequences. This stage of development of productive forces was characterised by the introduction of scientific achievements in production, rationalisation and improvement of machines, technology and the 35 organisation of production, and a continuous rise in the productivity of labour.
Under the system of capitalist ownership of the means of production, the owner of the capital economically forces the proletarian, a person who has no property, to work for him. Only vital necessity compels the worker to hire himself out to the capitalist.
Why does a capitalist hire workers? Not out of pity, of course, but to derive profit, for the workers create surplus value.
What is surplus value? It is the value of the product which a worker produces without compensation, since his wage is always smaller than the value of the commodity he has created. Therein lies the essence of capitalist relations of production.
It is surplus value, which the capitalist receives in the form of profit by appropriating the product of the unpaid labour of workers, that is the chief stimulus of capitalist production. In their striving for profit the interests of the capitalists clash and a struggle for still greater profits begins. This struggle is called competition, and the winner is the capitalist whose production is better organised and who equips it with more sophisticated machinery and manages to sell his commodity more profitably. The race for profits and competition compel the capitalist to improve production and technology and turn out greater quantities of commodities. The production of more goods than can be purchased on the market leads to crises of overproduction.
36These crises, however, do not in the least testify to an absolute excess of commodities. The demand for them still exists, but people cannot afford to purchase them because they do not have the money for it. Overproduction leads to the closure of factories and the dismissal of workers who swell the ranks of the unemployed. This still further narrows the demand for commodities. Crises are one of the most characteristic features of the capitalist system. Modern industrial production calls for a rational planned organisation which takes into account nation-wide demand and consumption.
Crises show that capitalism is unable to cope with this task.
The class struggle under capitalism becomes more acute. Workers unite and fight for better living and working conditions. This struggle takes the form of strikes, demonstrations and revolutionary uprisings.
Thus, ruthless competition, periodic crises and the unceasing class struggle attest to the contradictory nature of the capitalist system, the growing disparity between the productive forces and the production relations. The basic contradiction of capitalism is precisely the disparity between the nature of production and methods of appropriation of the fruits of production. The production process is social inasmuch as in present-day conditions millions of people bound by production relations jointly produce all the necessary commodities. But the product of this social production is appropriated by private owners.
37Private property, however, can be turned into public property. Then not only the necessary but also the surplus product can be distributed in the interests of the whole of society. On the basis of public property it is possible to abolish competition, and effectively plan production on a scale corresponding to the entire society and in its interests. The social nature of production should be matched by public ownership of the means of production with its specific organisation of labour and forms of distribution. This, however, is possible only under socialism.
The bourgeoisie would like to resolve or at the least to smooth over the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system. Production is becoming increasingly socialised: individual capitalists are being replaced by associations of capitalists--- firms, trusts and giant monopolies. Monopoly capitalism is developing and turning into state-- monopoly capitalism, which is an indication of the recognition of the social character of the productive forces within the framework of the capitalist system itself. But the whole point is that monopoly property remains private capitalist in character, and monopoly profits are distributed among the shareholders. Monopolies do not abolish competition because they themselves compete on a worldwide scale. And the small and medium-size private enterprises, too, are locked in a sustained and embittered struggle for raw materials and consumer markets.
Monopoly capital is the source and the perpetrator of fearful crimes against humanity. It was 38 responsible for the outbreak of two world wars which took a toll of dozens of millions of human lives. And it was monopoly capitalism that fathered fascism which is ever pregnant with the threat of reaction and violence.
Apologists of capitalism assert that the position which the working class in the advanced capitalist countries holds today does not permit the capitalists to cut wages impunely and compels them to pay fairly high wages to the workers, and therefore the class struggle is petering out. This is an illusion, an attempt at wishful thinking. The working people are winning their rights in the course of long years of fierce class struggle, at the cost of incalculable sacrifices. This struggle is not only continuing, it is becoming ever more acute.
Certainly, in developed capitalist countries such as the USA, the FRG, France and Britain a qualified worker receives a relatively high wage. He has also won other social rights, especially in the period following the Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917. However, this does not mean that injustice, inequality and oppression have been wiped out in these countries. In capitalist society a person who works remains oppressed and is constantly aware of his dependence on the capitalist who can fire him at any moment and thus deprive him of shelter and food. Moreover, even in advanced capitalist countries the incomes of very many people are lower than the subsistence minimum.
For a long time capitalism exploited hundreds 39 of millions of people in colonial countries. The colonial system collapsed but backwardness and poverty weigh heavily on the shoulders of toiling people in many African, Asian and Latin American countries. The peoples of the developing states are faced with the difficult problems of further development which are solved in the course of the struggle against imperialism and bitter social conflicts.
The development of state-monopoly capitalism did not smooth out, but exacerbated the internal contradictions of the capitalist system, and the scientific and technological revolution, that qualitatively new phase in the development of the modern forces of production, aggravated them to a still greater extent.
What is a scientific and technological revolution?
One of its features is that it radically alters the already developed industrial production, opening qualitatively new prospects before it. The chief trend in the transformation of technology is the creation of automated production, first partially and then fully. The prerequisites for such automation lie in the development of cybernetics and electronic computers with the help of which machines are able to control technological processes.
Another feature of the scientific and technological revolution is the growing implementation of scientific achievements in production, the transformation of science into an actual productive force, when modern equipment appears as 40 the direct result of the development and application of science. The organic fusion of science and production as we are witnessing today has no precedent in history. And indeed, atomic energy, space flights, the production of synthetic materials with set properties, electronics, lasers, these and many other achievements arise from science and not merely as a result of the accumulated experience, as was the case in the past. The organic connection between scientific and technological progress is the distinguishing feature of the scientific and technological revolution.
Sophisticated technology makes it possible considerably to raise labour productivity and introduces serious changes in the very structure and organisation of production. But the most important result and the distinctive feature of the scientific and technological revolution is that it modifies man's role in production. On the basis of automated technology and the application of scientific methods, serial production will be increasingly guided by machines which do not require the direct participation of man in the technological process. His job will be controlling the operation of machines, handling repairs, designing and building new machines and performing other creative functions connected with production.
The craftsman set in motion his instruments of production chiefly by his own muscle energy, and in machine production, too, the worker became an appendage to the machine, but the machines created by the modern scientific and 41 technological revolution will make man the master of the self-regulating (automatic) production process. Such is the prospect opened by the scientific and technological revolution. Today we are witnessing the beginning of this process, for automated shops even in advanced countries have so far accounted for an insignificant part of the entire production.
The scientific and technological revolution will raise production to such a level that it will be possible to create the material and technical basis for the achievement of the maximum material wealth, reduce the working day and employ people's strength and abilities primarily in the field of creative work. But whether the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution will be employed to the benefit of the working man depends on the social system where it is developing---within the capitalist framework or in socialist society.
Capitalism takes advantage of the growth of the productive forces and the scientific and technological progress to intensify the exploitation of the working people and strengthen its system of domination and oppression. In capitalist conditions the scientific and technological revolution further strengthens the state-monopoly organisation which turns the working man into a particle, a tiny screw in the powerful capitalist machine.
As it promotes industrial development the scientific and technological revolution undermines capitalism, exacerbates its contradictions and increases the incompatibility of the growing 42 productive forces with the narrow framework of the capitalist economy, with the character of the production relations, and engenders class conflicts.
The socio-economic system that corresponds to the modern character and prospects of further development of productive forces is socialist society. Socialism is the highest stage that mankind has so far achieved in its progress. And it is socialism that can make the best of the scientific and technological revolution and, most important, employ it in the interests of man.
Let us sum up all that has been said in this section.
Human history is movement from the lower to higher forms of social life and its leading force is the development of the productive forces. We have examined only the general aspects of the main line, the basic trend of social development. The knowledge of the stages of social development furnished by Marxist theory makes it possible to comprehend historical phenomena in their entire diversity, to analyse the past, assess the present and foresee the future.
At the same time the materialist theory of social development is not a fixed scheme; it calls for a concrete analysis of concrete historical phenomena. Historical progress is uneven and the rise of a new formation does not immediately cause the disappearance of the preceding one. Survivals of primitive-communal relations, for example, continue to exist for a long time in a class society. Survivals of feudalism are still found in some backward countries. Whole 43 peopies, states and cultures perished in wars or disappeared due to other reasons. Many of the peoples which exist today passed over the above stages of social development. The Slav peoples, for instance, moved from primitive-communal relations directly into feudalism, bypassing the slave-owning formation. Many peoples living in the Soviet Union stepped from patriarchal, feudal relations into socialism, without passing through the capitalist stage of development. There are many similar examples.
The general theoretical principles, Lenin noted, are creatively applied to different countries inasmuch as each one has its historic, national, cultural and other features influencing its development. At the same time these general principles mirror the general laws of social development which determine the course of world history and which force their way through the numerous varieties of the concrete historical process. In our time it was the operation of these general laws that launched the capitalist social formation towards its inevitable end. A new, communist social formation is beginning to take shape and develop. This being the case, the contemporary epoch taken on the world historic scale is an epoch of transition from capitalism to socialism. The countries of the world socialist system are standing at the initial stage of the communist social formation.
What are the main features of a communist social formation?
44 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The CommunistThe economic basis of this formation is public ownership of the means of production. At the present stage public property has two forms: state property and co-operative and collectivefarm property. It is this form of property that corresponds to the social nature of the production process and creates infinite opportunities for the growth of the productive forces.
The construction of communist society, as any other stage of historical development, is characterised by contradictions between the productive forces and the production relations. In this case, however, their solution is not attended by social conflicts and political revolutions and is achieved as a result of conscious and planned improvement of the production relations. This is possible, first, because public property does away with exploitation of man by man, abolishes the exploiting classes, and the life of the entire society is guided by common interests; and, second, because the tasks and problems facing society can be resolved consciously and in a planned way. In a communist formation production, culture and social relations advance and improve at an especially rapid pace. Proof of this is the fact that the USSR developed into a mighty power with a highly advanced economy and culture in a mere 58 years.
The rise and development of the communist formation is a natural process. The material 45 prerequisites for the transition to this formation are created in the depths of the capitalist system. The most important of them is modern production which unites the entire mass of the working people. The working class is the leading social force which consummates the socialist revolution in alliance with the working peasantry and lays the foundation of the communist social formation.
As it develops the communist social formation passes through several stages. The first is the transition period which begins with socialist revolution. In this period survivals of the overthrown classes (landowners and the bourgeoisie) are abolished and small peasant farms are transformed into large collective farms through cooperation and the development of the industrial base of the new society. In the sphere of social thinking the scientific ideology of MarxismLeninism gains the dominating position, and the masses begin acquiring socialist consciousness.
Politically, the transition period is one of the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the state power of the proletariat established after the bourgeois government is deposed.
After carrying through the socialist revolution the proletariat inevitably encounters the resistance of the overthrown classes which can be suppressed by force only. Therefore the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat is the main content of socialist revolution.
At the same time the dictatorship of the proletariat has an important creative mission. It is 46 the chief instrument in the building of socialism. The dictatorship of the proletariat is a form of the political guidance of all sections of the working people by the working class. Its purpose is to win over the mass of working people and draw them into construction of the new society. In contrast to bourgeois rule, the dictatorship of the proletariat does not stand in opposition to the mass of people, but expresses their fundamental interests.
The dictatorship of the proletariat can be effected in various political forms depending on the specific conditions of the development of socialist revolution. One form of the dictatorship of the proletariat was the Paris Commune (March 18 to May 28, 1871). Though short-lived, it was of great significance for it was the first time in history that the proletariat had come to power. The Soviets, a new form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, appeared in the course of the revolution in Russia. Building upon the teaching of Marx and Engels about the dictatorship of the proletariat, Lenin substantiated the historical significance of the Republic of Soviets, a state of a new type, of consistent and real democracy. People's Democracy, which appeared in the countries that took the road of socialist development after the Second World War, became another form of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The transition period ends with the establishment of socialist social relations. Socialism, the first phase of the communist formation, fully 47 abolishes private ownership of the means of production and the exploiting classes. Socialism stands for the complete socio-political and ideological unity of society, of all its classes, strata and social groups; it abolishes national oppression and establishes relations of friendship between peoples based on the principle of socialist internationalism.
Once socialism has won, the dictatorship of the proletariat develops into a state of the entire people. It performs a number of important and essential functions, economic and organisational in the first place. The state expresses the fundamental interests of the people, of the whole of society in the economic sphere; it plans and manages the national economy; it serves as the organising authority in the solution of the tasks facing society, protects public and personal interests of the working people and upholds socialist law and order. Relying on the support of all working people, the state of the entire people enforces measures of compulsion with regard to people violating the laws and principles of socialist society. The socialist state puts in a vast amount of work to promote public education, raise the cultural level of the working people, foster communist consciousness and create conditions for a continuous development of culture and science. The socialist state carries out the crucial function of protecting the country, defending the socialist gains of the working people and promoting friendship and co-operation between socialist countries; it supports the 48 international revolutionary liberation movement and upholds the cause of peace and international security.
The victory of socialism, the first phase of communism, in the USSR was reflected in the new Constitution adopted in 1936. After that the socialist society developed on its own foundation. The growth of the socialist economy and culture was accompanied by consolidation of socialism and the further strengthening of the socialist state. As a result the Soviet people achieved the complete and final victory of socialism and the country entered a period of a developed socialist society.
As it continues to advance, the socialist system more fully discloses its advantages over the capitalist system. One of its most important advantages is the steadily increasing role of the people in the building of the new society. The 24th CPSU Congress (1971) set the people and the Party the task of using the advantages of socialism, combining them with the scientific and technological revolution and further improving the entire system of management in order to gain more efficacy of production and accelerate the growth of the material welfare and cultural level of the people.
Under developed socialism people are in a position to solve tasks which society was unable to fulfil in the past. As a result of the tremendous growth of industrial and agricultural production the Soviet Union can speed up the rates of growth of consumer goods production and 49 increase investments into agriculture without lowering the rates of heavy industry development. Thanks to their dedicated labour in the socialist industry and agriculture the Soviet people fulfil the main task of the five-year plan, that of securing a considerable rise in the standard of living and the cultural level of the people. Today the Soviet state is in a position to channel increasing efforts and means into the development of public education, literature, and art and thus promote the growth of the intellectual wealth of society.
The further prospects for the development of socialist society are connected with the transition from socialism, the lowest stage in the development of the communist formation, to complete communism, its highest stage.
Wherein lies the distinction between socialism and communism? The chief distinction is society's level of economic and spiritual maturity.
One of the most important directions in the growth of the productive forces is that of intensifying production and raising the level of its socialisation. Production is being enlarged and links between factories, and the various branches of production are becoming more and more intricate and diverse. The employment of new materials, the automation of production, and broad introduction of scientific methods and technical means of organisation and management will eventually do away with heavy and monotonous work and as a result the majority of people will work in various fields of creative labour. All this __PRINTERS_P_49_COMMENT__ 4---8052 50 is bound to cause enormous changes in their mode of life.
Under socialism material wealth is distributed among the members of society chiefly according to the quality and quantity of the work they perform for society, i.e., in line with the principle ``From each according to his ability, to each according to his work''.
Society takes care that people develop their abilities and for this purpose improves the system of education. The introduction of universal secondary education is a matter of very great significance for the intellectual development of all working people and their increasing participation in creative labour.
It is the concern of socialist society that each individual should work in a field where he can make full use of his abilities and thus be of the greatest service to society. This problem, naturally, still requires its ultimate solution, but socialist society considers it one of the most important.
The socialist principle of distribution according to the work done is embodied in the existing system of wages. A large and steadily increasing part of the material wealth and services in the USSR is distributed among people through public consumption funds regardless of the quantity and quality of work contributed by an individual. These funds account for free education and medical treatment, grants to mothers of large families, state-owned housing, numerous holiday facilities, and so on and so forth.
51Under communism the level of development of productive forces and labour productivity must be high enough to ensure an abundance of consumer goods. A new principle of distribution, ``From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs'', will become effective in communist society. But before this happens society will have to attain a new level of development of production which will become the material and technical basis of communism. Man himself will rise to a higher stage in the new conditions. In socialist society distinctions still exist between urban and rural labour, between mental and physical labour, and unskilled manual labour is still needed. The survivals of the old division of labour and non-creative labour which restricts man's intellectual growth can be abolished only through a high level of technological development, introduction of science into all branches of production, the latter's complex mechanisation and automation and high productivity of labour. These are enormous and complicated tasks, but their solution will create the necessary material basis for man's all-round progress, for the burgeoning of his abilities in all spheres of creative labour.
Gradually labour will cease to be an obligation and a means of subsistence; it will become a prime necessity of life and the interest of the individual in the very process of labour will become predominant. Naturally, elements of such an attitude exist in socialist society and more appear with each passing year. For instance, the underlying 52 principle of the movement for a communist attitude to labour, which has attained broad scope at Soviet industrial enterprises and offices, is ``to learn to live and work the communist way''. But only under communism, when society enters the highest stage of its economic and spiritual maturity, when all substantial distinctions between town and country and between mental and physical labour have been abolished, will the all-round development of the individual be accompanied by the consolidation of a communist attitude to labour in the whole of society.
Distinctions between the classes of workers and peasants and the intelligentsia continue to exist under socialism, but they will gradually disappear as society advances towards communism. The distinctions between workers and peasants will be gradually obliterated as agricultural labour develops into a variety of industrial labour. The introduction of the achievements of science into production and the growth of its machine-to-man ratio call for greater knowledge on the part of the worker so that the gap between physical and mental labour will gradually narrow. This will result in the formation of a socially homogeneous society, a classless society, not only because there will be no exploitation of man by man (this is achieved under socialism), but also in the sense that there will be no distinctions between the working classes.
The eradication of distinctions between classes and social groups does not mean levelling people and abolishing individual distinctions. On the 53 contrary, the abolition of classes will offer every member of society equal opportunities and create all the essential conditions for the development of the individual and the formation of a harmoniously developed man.
Great changes will take place in the organisation and management of the economy and in the sphere of social relations. The working class is the one and only class known to history which takes power into its hands not in order to perpetuate its domination but so as to abolish classes in general.
As society advances towards communism moral principles will play an increasing role in guiding the behaviour of people, and each individual will voluntarily and consciously perform his duties in society. This will accelerate the development of communist social self-government and the withering away of the state. But the question of the withering away of the state has an external aspect as well as an internal one. The historical necessity of the existence of the state will disappear only when the threat of war and the social antagonisms existing in the world have been fully eliminated. These conditions will be created when the communist social formation is established throughout the world, or at least in the majority of countries.
The building of a communist society is the immediate practical task of the Soviet people. A developed socialist society is a society which is building communism. Its purpose is defined in the CPSU Programme: ``Communism is a 54 classless social system with one form of public ownership of the means of production and full social equality of all members of society; under it, the all-round development of people will be accompanied by the growth of the productive forces through continuous progress in science and technology; all the springs of co-operative wealth will flow more abundantly, and the great principle 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs' will be implemented. Communism is a highly organised society of free, socially conscious working people in which public self-government will be established, a society in which labour for the good of society will become the prime vital requirement of everyone, a necessity recognised by one and all, and the ability of each person will be employed to the greatest benefit of the people."
The history of mankind knows no greater or more noble aim than that of building communism. The opponents of Marxism, the enemies of communism, are endeavouring to portray it as wild fantasy. But reality has proved the untenability of their arguments.
The idea of socialism and communism was advanced and scientifically substantiated by the founders of Marxism in the 19th century. Today socialism is an historical reality which undeniably confirms the correctness of the scientific prediction of the proletariat's great teachers.
The ideas of communism do not clash with the objective trends of development of the contemporary forces of production, the prospects of the 55 scientific and technological revolution; on the contrary, they fully correspond to them, which also confirms the viability of these ideas.
Communism stands not only for the comprehensive development of production, science and culture, but also for their utilisation in the interests of man, their subordination to the tasks of serving man. This cannot be attained under capitalism, which places science and technology in opposition to man. But this target becomes absolutely realistic under socialism and communism, for the communist formation erases social antagonisms and places all the achievements of the human genius at the service of man to promote his all-round development. It follows, therefore, that the communist ideal can be fully translated into reality.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE ACTIVITY OF PEOPLE IN HISTORY __ALPHA_LVL3__ Factors Determining the Activity of PeopleHistory is made by people. But when we say that history is a consistent process we simultaneously assert that people cannot make history arbitrarily, according to their will and contrary to the requirements of social development. For example, the Soviet Union cannot at present effect distribution according to needs, for so far its economic and cultural development has not attained the level which would make it possible to implement this principle. Therefore distribution is effected according to the quantity and 56 quality of the work done. This is in keeping with the level of economic development of the Soviet state and is one of the principles of socialism.
It is material conditions that determine the activity of people.
Does this, however, imply that man does nothing more than passively fulfil objective demands, that he automatically obeys the dictate of objective laws? Such understanding of the role played by people in history would be erroneous, one-sided, in other words, it would be fatalistic. The fact of the matter is that objective conditions and laws determine only the limits of the possible and the impossible in the given circumstances, and allow very considerable latitude for diverse activity. At the same time this latitude also depends on concrete circumstances.
The activity of people may differ in identical conditions, for it depends on their mentality and also on their desires, emotions and those intellectual and social values on which they rely and numerous other subjective factors.
Inasmuch as the actual course of history depends not only on objective conditions and the laws of development but also on the way of acting which is selected by people themselves and, therefore, is not predestined by fate, people create history in the true meaning of the word, and history is created in struggle, in collision of various social forces.
For instance, in present-day conditions there exists the possibility of an outbreak of a world nuclear conflict, for there are nuclear weapons, 57 antagonistic contradictions and the aggressive forces of imperialism capable of precipitating it. On the other hand, the majority of people realise that a nuclear war, if it does break out, will bring inestimable disaster to humanity. And since they do not want the war, there also exists the possibility of averting it. It is common knowledge that the Soviet Union is doing everything in its power to avert such a war and inhibit political adventurism.
In all historical conditions there are diverse possibilities that may determine the further course of developments. Which of these possibilities will gain the upper hand depends on the people themselves, on their activity and the balance of the opposing forces. Historical laws are enacted in the activity of the people and in no other way.
Marxism-Leninism gives people knowledge of the objective laws and motive forces of society, it explains the processes occurring in society and provides methods of analysing them. Obviously, the success of the activities of people depends on the degree of their congruity with specific conditions and their expediency within a definite period of time. In planning production, for instance, it is important to take account of internal production links, level of technology, scientific achievements, organisation of labour, system of management and a diversity of other factors which have a direct bearing on the rates of its development and determine its results. But first of all it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of society's requirements. The compilation 58 of such an optimal plan, especially for a large country, is a very difficult problem which cannot be solved without the help of science.
Marxist social science is revolutionary because it serves the achievement of a great aim---the creation of a new society, because it promotes the success of the revolutionary struggle of the working class and all working people for the emancipation of humanity from all forms of social, national and spiritual oppression.
Marxism-Leninism plays an enormous role in the life of people by making their activity more purposeful and reasonable, thus helping them to make full use of the opportunities for promoting historical progress that are inherent in the existing conditions.
The already cognised laws of historical development are not always capable of showing man correct line of action in any given circumstances. The laws deal with objective trends and processes, whereas man operates in a concrete situation. Therefore when he reaches a decision he is largely guided by his experience, abilities, cultural level and moral qualities. The moral aspect is most important, for in identical circumstances a person can act either honestly or basely, do good or evil, be brave or cowardly, and so forth. Since this applies not only to individuals, but also to the activity of groups of people, it is necessary to take the psychology of these groups into account.
Politics, for example, cannot be only a science; it will always be an art, too. The adoption and 59 implementation of political decisions depend to an enormous degree on the personal qualities of people, their abilities, experience, authority, character, and so forth.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Classes and Social Groups.Human activity has a great diversity of forms. People work in industry and agriculture. They produce material values.
People work at research institutes. They study nature and society, investigate their laws and furnish society with knowledge. This is scientific activity.
People create new machines, mechanisms, instruments, etc. This is engineering, designing activity.
People work at state institutions. This is administrative activity.
People work in the spheres of health service, education, culture and so forth.
All these types of activity are essential for society and they determine the division of people according to their occupations and specialities.
There are many other distinctions, too, including age, educational standard, wages, etc.
But the most important distinction between groups of people is the one between classes.
Class distinctions arise in the economic sphere. Classes are large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in the system of production, by their relation to the means of 60 production, by their role in the social organisation of labour and by the mode of acquiring income and its dimensions.
Every exploiting social formation known to history had its specific classes. Moreover, society developed in the course of the class struggle.
The interests of the individual, his mode of life and thinking essentially depend on the class to which he belongs.
The theory of classes and class struggle provides an understanding of the sources of the contradictory strivings of individuals and the causes for their thinking and acting differently.
What is the science of classes and class struggle all about in contemporary conditions?
In advanced capitalist countries the basic classes are the monopoly bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In addition, bourgeois countries have the peasantry (farmers), petty bourgeoisie (owners of small enterprises, shops and workshops). The intelligentsia, i.e., engineers, scientists, writers, men of arts and letters, and other mental workers, holds an important place in the class structure of the capitalist society. The intelligentsia is heterogeneous. It has absorbed representatives of various classes and forms a special social stratum.
Insofar as class interests are contradictory, their contradictions are manifested in the struggle of classes. For instance, workers organise strikes as they fight for higher wages. This is an economic form of struggle. But the actions of the workers, the intelligentsia and young people against aggressive wars, against militarism, are 61 a political struggle because their purpose is to achieve definite political objectives. Both the economic and political struggle is reflected in the collision of ideologies. Some theoreticians justify the actions of the bourgeoisie and the imperialist forces, others uphold the interests of the working class. The collision of opposing ideas also expresses antagonism between classes. Therefore, the ideological struggle is a form of class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, between socialism and capitalism.
The political struggle is the main form of class struggle, because what class will gain political ascendancy and stand at the head of society depends on its outcome. Of course, the question of power is far from always posed directly, since various classes can put forward political demands which do not affect the political mainstays of a given society. The problem of power is of paramount importance in politics. When the bourgeoisie employs police to disperse a demonstration of working people, to smash organisations upholding the interests of the working class or to suppress strikes, it does so to assert its rule. Of course, besides direct political violence, the bourgeoisie resorts to economic, ideological and other methods. However, usually methods of political violence are widely employed in periods of the exacerbation of the class struggle. So, in order to wrest power from the bourgeoisie, the oppressed classes must also resort to violence.
An analysis of class struggle makes it possible to explain the existence of political parties in a 62 modern society: in a political struggle each class defends its own interests. Therefore it is natural that there should be groups of people and organisations representing the interests of a given class and guiding its activity. These organisations are political parties. In bourgeois-- democratic states there are various parties representing the interests of the basic classes and social groups, and representatives of various parties are elected to parliament. But this is merely formal democracy because the bourgeoisie with power and wealth concentrated in its hands always finds the ways and means of securing the parliamentary majority to support the policy advantageous to the ruling class.
Marxist-Leninist parties of the working class in bourgeois-democratic countries also participate in the political struggle by representing the workers in bourgeois parliaments. But their main mission is to uphold the interests of the working people, educate the working class in a revolutionary spirit and guide its activity against bourgeoisie and the capitalist system.
The political struggle has a variety of forms and methods. The reformists, Right opportunists, or simply conciliators and time-servers, deny the necessity of revolutionary struggle on the grounds that the working class should act in a ``purely democratic" manner and achieve reforms by co-- operating with the ruling class. There are also ``Left''-- wing opportunists, the extremists (champions of extreme measures), who believe that the working class will be able to attain its goals only through 63 violence, and therefore reject peaceful forms of class struggle.
The correct standpoint is that a party of the working class should be prepared to employ all forms, legal and illegal, violent and non-violent, depending on the concrete situation and the resistance of the class adversary.
In its struggle each class seeks to win allies and enters in various blocs and agreements with other classes. These are questions of the strategy and tactics of the class struggle.
In the final count the objective of this strategy and tactics is to prepare the masses for revolution and secure victory over the forces of the old system.
What is revolution? Let us take a deeper look into this question. We have already said that social revolutions are a natural form of the transition from one socio-economic formation to another in the course of the progressive development of society; that their economic foundation is the deep conflict between the productive forces and the relations of production, when the latter begin to impede the development of the former; that this conflict assumes the form of a forcible political revolution because the ruling classes of the old society resist revolutionary changes, so that a revolution will be victorious only if the revolutionary forces seize power and employ it to suppress the resisting forces of the old society. This being the case, the question of power becomes the main issue of the revolution which itself becomes a political act. Such are the basic 64 principles of the Marxist-Leninist theory of revolution.
The nature of the revolution depends on the type of production relations which it abolishes and the type of system for which it paves the way. There is a qualitative distinction between the bourgeois revolutions paving the way for the capitalist system, and the proletarian, socialist revolutions aimed at abolishing capitalism and all forms of exploitation and consolidating socialist relations. The motive forces of revolution are the classes and social groups which bring it to conclusion. The basic motive forces of socialist revolution are the working class and the peasantry. The working class is winning more and more allies and there is mounting protest against imperialist system, the oppressor of the broad masses.
If the peoples hate imperialism so intensely, why, then, have there been no revolutions in many capitalist countries? The main reason is that general economic prerequisites alone cannot bring about a revolutionary explosion; the presence of a revolutionary situation is also essential.
A revolution matures only when society becomes entangled in economic contradictions and the situation of the masses drastically deteriorates. In some cases revolutionary situations were created by war. For instance, the 1905 Revolution in Russia was a result of the crisis caused by the Russo-Japanese War. The February 1917 Revolution took place as a result of 65 the sharp aggravation of social contradictions, discontent, poverty and hunger provoked by the First World War. In principle, however, a revolutionary situation does not necessarily develop as a result of war. It can be engendered by the exacerbation of society's internal contradictions.
Revolutions are not accidental phenomena, and neither are they made to order. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, these great thinkers who dedicated their lives to the proletarian cause, always opposed those who believed a handful of conspirators detached from the movement of masses could consummate revolution and make people ``happy''. Such actions result only in defeat and always play into the hands of the reaction. Revolution cannot be exported to another country and imposed on another nation. It has to be prepared by the entire course of internal development of a country.
Building upon the Marxist theory of revolution Lenin showed that in imperialist conditions a socialist revolution could win first in one country. This idea was confirmed by the victory of the October Revolution in Russia. Later a number of other European and Asian countries and also Cuba took the road of socialist development. A world system of socialism, the chief revolutionary force of our time, came into being. Intricate processes are taking place in capitalist and Third World countries where new revolutionary forces are maturing.
The Communists are now striving to unite and
rally all the forces capable of fighting
__PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__
5--2052
66
imperialism, the main obstruction of historical progress,
the basic force oppressing the peoples and a
source of the threat of a nuclear war.
The problem of consolidating anti-imperialist forces---the working class, the peasantry, intelligentsia and various social strata---was raised as a most important political issue of the day at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in Moscow in 1969.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Classes Under SocialismUnder socialism there are no antagonistic classes because the industry and the land belong to the socialist state and the exploiting classes have been eliminated. The building of socialist society is accompanied by the co-operation, or collectivisation of small peasant holdings. In other words, small private holdings of the peasants are united into the collective property of the collective-farm members, and the state turns over the land to the collective farms for permanent use.
Collectivisation gives rise to large-scale agricultural production employing modern machines and scientific achievements. The social character of the peasantry also changes.
The distinctions between the working classes--- the workers and peasants---and between them and the intelligentsia---mental workers---continue to exist in socialist society, but they are not antagonistic because the basic interests of all social groups coincide: the entire nation is interested in strengthening and developing the socialist 67 systern, promoting society's economic and cultural growth and building communism.
The distinctions between classes will gradually disappear as socialist society continues to advance. Already today the scientific and technological revolution in agriculture is transforming it into a variety of industrial labour. Both in the way of life and culturally the countryside is approaching the urban level.
The present scientific and technological revolution makes for changes in society's social structure. The steady improvement of technology, the increasing application of science in production, the growth of automation and mechanisation and the mounting demand for highly qualified labour dwindle the gap between mental and physical labour. The educational level of the entire people rises steadily. This means that distinctions between the intelligentsia and the rest of the working people are gradually being obliterated.
The Soviet people are building socially homogeneous classless society. Classless society is the ultimate objective of the communist movement, for this society will be free from economic inequality and will provide for the all-round development of every individual. The only distinctions which will remain between people under communism will be talent, abilities, interests, level of knowledge and the like.
But so long as classes exist the working class, the most united and best organised class and the leading vehicle of the communist ideas, will play the principal role in society. «*
68In socialist society the relations between classes and social groups are qualified as relations of socio-political and ideological unity. This unity is one of the greatest assets of socialism. It brings together the efforts of the whole nation in building communist society. In this sense the socio-political unity of society is one of the motive forces of the development of socialism.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that there are no contradictions in Soviet society. The building of a new society is invariably attended by unexpected developments and obsoletion of things. Some contradictions disappear, while new contradictions associated with the development of society may emerge. But these contradictions are not antagonistic; the development and strengthening of the socialist society and the increasing social wealth create ever more favourable conditions for resolving contradictions.
Thus, socialism, being the initial phase of the communist social formation, is a society which has done away with exploiting classes and whose main objective is to create and develop conditions for surmounting the vestiges of class distinctions between the working classes and social groups and to create and develop conditions for the transition to communism.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Society, the Individual and the CollectiveAlthough the course of history is set by the activity of large masses of people, and by classes when we refer to a class society, it does not mean 69 that separate individuals play no part in it. History traces the activity of classes, states, nations and peoples, but it also records the feats of national heroes, the activity of heads of states and military commanders and discoveries made by great scientists and it brings to us the names of leaders of people's uprisings, and prominent figures in education, culture and art.
Historical science is interested in people who have left their imprint on human memory, whose personality influenced the course of developments, either by accelerating or retarding them. Who are these people? Socio-political developments are seriously influenced by people standing at the head of states, parties, movements, armies, etc. Indeed, an army which defeats another army owes its victory to many factors, not the least important the personality of its commander. A commander's abilities and personal qualities are a weighty factor in each concrete case.
The same applies to political leaders who have the backing of powerful parties or powerful states, and whose decisions can have a substantial impact on the course of history.
Why do certain individuals leave an imprint in history? Undoubtedly due to their outstanding intellect, talent and abilities and to the fact that their particular qualities fit in the particular period. The leaders of the popular movements of the past were people who had been singled out by the masses and enjoyed great authority. There can be no doubt that Stepan Razin and Yemelyan Pugachev, leaders of the peasant movements in 70 Russia, were outstanding personalities who most fully expressed the interests and the characteristic features of the peasants of the period, their hatred for the oppression of the landowners, their love for freedom and their prejudices, such as their belief in a ``benevolent'' tsar.
Each class moulds its leaders in its own image. The revolutionary movement of the proletariat produced leaders of a qualitatively new type, welleducated people with outstanding personal qualities and a thorough knowledge of the interests and needs of the working class. The great leaders of the working class Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Vladimir Lenin not only enormously influenced the course of history, but by their ideas and activity ushered in a new epoch in the struggle of the working class for socialism.
In the spheres of culture, science and arts, the life and consciousness of the masses are influenced by people whose discoveries enrich human knowledge, and who produce outstanding works of art and technical inventions.
Based as it is on the laws of historical development, social science seeks to explain the past and the present activity of the people and scientifically forecast the future. But the course of history depends not only on the operation of objective laws, but also on the activity of the makers of history themselves---the masses, classes and personalities standing at the head of various movements, and especially on those who by virtue of their qualities and position are able to influence developments.
71What about the personality of an ``ordinary'' person? Man, his development in history, his activity, have always been in the centre of social sciences. Marxist social science regards man as a social being in the first place. And man's biological nature is subordinated to this social beginning. At the same time man's social nature is not immutable. Man is both a social and historic being. His nature is determined by society in which he develops, lives and acts. Proceeding from this concept it is easy to understand why Marx defined the essence of man as ``the ensemble of the social relations''. In other words, in order to understand man it is necessary to study the society that produced him.
In primitive society man was a member of a clan, community or tribe and his consciousness was wholly determined by the conceptions prevailing in the clan. As the class society developed so did the class personality. It was the personality of a slave or a slave-owner, a feudal lord or a serf. In bourgeois society, where all people are formally equal, they are divided according to their wealth and property status. People are genuinely equal only under socialism and communism, since this society abolishes all privileges associated with the origin of a person and wealth. The communist society creates equal and favourable conditions for the all-round development of the individual. It will be a qualitatively new stage in the relations between society and the individual, where the individuality of a person will develop to a still greater extent. The greater the 72 diversity of social life and the more abundant the cultural wealth of the people, the richer becomes the spiritual world of the individual and the more vivid his personality. In the past this process was extremely controversial because the exploiting classes appropriated the fruits of social and cultural progress, relegating the toiling masses to poverty and ignorance. Today workers in capitalist countries are subject to such forms of influence which are designed to educate submissive, socially passive people. Such achievements of human culture as the cinema, radio, television and the press are brought into play to divert the attention of the people from problems of reality, from the struggle for a better future. This is also the purpose of the developing ``mass culture" which levels off or standardises human interests and consequently downgrades and coarsens the personality of man depriving it of genuine spiritual values.
Under socialism cultural development has the sole objective of moulding a vivid human personality. In this connection we should examine another important circumstance.
It is a fact that man is connected not only with the activity of society, of large social groups, but also with that of small groups which he is directly attached to, namely the body of his fellow workers and his family which greatly influence the formation of the personality.
A small group, or a collective, is a link between man and society. For instance, in the USSR man is connected with society in the production sphere 73 through the collective in which he works, and his prestige in society depends on his prestige in the factory shop, collective farm, office or other place where he works. In a collective where man is in direct contact with other people there are specific relations and moral atmosphere which strongly influence labour productivity and the entire life and activity of the given group. Soviet society is interested in maintaining healthy relations among people, which would stimulate their labour and the intellectual development of the members of the collective body and improve them ideologically and morally.
Under socialism workers' collectives are the main cells of society and their further development is becoming an increasingly important factor of social progress. The combination of individual, collective and social interests, when the interests of the individual and the group are not opposed to each other and to the interests of society, encourages the progressive development of the entire country.
It is most important to promote the development of the human personality, for the richer the inner world of each person, the more diversified is the life of society.
Individuality should not be confused with individualism. Individualism is a bourgeois ideological and moral principle which sets the individual in opposition to society, to the collective, and puts personal interests and the striving for personal advantages in the forefront. This basically vicious principle does not reflect the interests of the 74 individual in general, but the concrete interests of the bourgeoisie, whose property and power is defended by the bourgeois system. The principle of individualism is alien to the working class because it disunites people. In contrast to bourgeois individualism, the proletarian outlook and communist morality assert the principle of collectivism making it incumbent on the individual to concert his interests and behaviour with the interests of his collective, class and society.
Does socialist collectivism run counter to the moulding of the individuality and freedom of the individual? Not at all. A person finds the necessary means for development only in a collective. Therefore the emancipation of the collective is a factor of the emancipation of the individual. This task, i.e., the emancipation of the collective, is fulfilled by socialist revolution. Under socialism, which promotes the rapid growth of education, culture and welfare, the collective and society acquire truly limitless opportunities for progress. It can be confidently stated that no other society in the world has done so much for the promotion of the spiritual development of the masses as has socialism. Socialist collectivism brings to the surface the most realistic ways for the development of the individual and individuality when ``the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all".^^*^^
Of course, socialist society cannot immediately _-_-_
^^*^^ K. Marx and F. Engels, Selected Works, Vol. I, Moscow, 1969, p. 127,
75 offer such an opportunity. At first it is necessary to raise sufficiently production and culture, surmount the survivals of the old social division of labour and eliminate the demand for unskilled and semi-skilled labour. The creation of conditions for the all-round development of the individual is an historical process which socialism is carrying out at present. This process shows that only socialist society is directing all its material and spiritual means to mould a harmoniously developed man. __ALPHA_LVL3__ Spiritual Life of SocietyIn everyday life we easily distinguish existing objects from their ideal images, from what takes place only in our mind. For instance, a person recalls his home and dreams and thinks of visiting it. All this takes place in the mind. It is a totally different thing when this takes place in reality, when a person has come home, met his near and dear ones, and so forth.
Materialist philosophy has proved that the material, i.e., real, existence of things does not depend on consciousness and that sensations, concepts, notions, all that we call consciousness, are a reflection of the material and secondary to consciousness.
The line between the material and the ideal (mental) is present in society, too. When people produce the necessary material values and use them, i.e., when they interact with nature and with each other, this is their social being.
76Social being is the material life of society. But public life is not the same thing as social being. People are conscious beings and when they work they do not act like automatons but consciously set themselves specific aims and seek to attain them. This means that the mental element, the aim, is always present even in the simplest of jobs. The aim is determined by man's requirements, his interests, the specific conditions of his activity, etc. It follows, therefore, that the aim is secondary to the conditions of activity, it derives from them. Furthermore, people, once they have set themselves a specific aim, consciously select the means with which to attain it. In other words, the purposeful character of human activity is connected with the consciousness which enables man to understand the surrounding world and act accordingly.
In order to work together people must develop patterns of behaviour to regulate their relations. These patterns are also factors of social consciousness.
Finally, the birth of consciousness in people is accompanied by the rise of their spiritual requirements which, just as material requirements, have to be satisfied, for as the saying goes: ``Man shall not live by bread alone.'' The level of these spiritual requirements differs in various periods and depends on the level of the spiritual development of society or its individual sections. And yet spiritual requirements have always existed and this is proved by primitive paintings, or the history of the development of poetic folklore.
77Thus, spiritual life is correlated with material life, and social consciousness with social being. The material, or in this case social being determines the ideal, or social consciousness. The latter is a reflection of the people's social being and as such is secondary to it. Their interaction, however, does not end there. Social consciousness, its various forms such as science, art, morality, accumulate a certain amount of ideas and concepts with which each new step in the development of social consciousness is connected. In other words, the relation of social consciousness to social being is always seen in the light of concepts and ideas already formed earlier. Social consciousness is relatively independent of social being. It can either lag behind social being or, on the contrary, overtake it, reflect it correctly or distort, create a scientific concept of reality or all sorts of illusions. What imprint, and why precisely this particular one reality leaves on social consciousness, are questions which require scientific study.
Social consciousness is influenced not simply by the interests of separate individuals but the interests of large social groups, or classes. The systems of ideas expressing the interests of classes and reflecting reality and social relations in the light of these interests constitute ideologies. Ideology is an element of social consciousness which in a class society is most directly and intrinsically linked with classes, their interests and struggle.
Ideologies play a major role in the life of society, guiding parties and classes that defend their interests in confrontations with other classes. In 78 our day the main ideologies are the communist, Marxist-Leninist ideology of the working class, and the reactionary bourgeois ideology with all its variations (liberal, fascist and others).
Why is bourgeois ideology reactionary? In the first place because it reflects the interests of the reactionary exploiting class. History does not stand still, and the assertion and development of socialist relations correspond to its objective laws and demands. But the bourgeoisie wants to thwart the victory of socialism, preserve the bourgeois system under which it holds the leading position, and retain its power and wealth. Hence, the interests of the bourgeoisie contradict historical progress and inhibit it, and bourgeois ideology sanctifies these interests. Hence its reactionary nature.
Unlike bourgeois ideology, Marxist-Leninist proletarian ideology is progressive and revolutionary because it serves the demands of historical development, the revolutionary transformation of capitalist relations into socialist. It is a scientific ideology that correctly reflects reality and its laws; it expresses the interests of the progressive class, the interests of the working people for whom a correct understanding of reality, and a sober, realistic, scientifically-based approach to social problems and contradictions and to prospects of social development are questions of especial importance. Marxist-Leninist ideology is winning its difficult struggle against world imperialism because it is genuinely scientific.
Besides ideology, which is a system of political and legal concepts, moral ideals and principles, 79 artistic trends, religious dogmas and philosophical ideas, there are other systems of knowledge and ideas whose direct and main purpose is to satisfy the requirements of the developing productive forces. In the first place these systems are natural, precise and technical sciences. The laws of nature which they study do not depend on society, on the activity of people and can be cognised either approximately or more precisely. Science is committed to the truth, it discovers the truth and employs objective knowledge to improve production, and society's practical activity.
The attitude to any science, including sciences studying nature, depends on class interests. The bourgeoisie seeks to place science at its service, for without science modern production cannot develop. Moreover, the ruling circles in capitalist countries use scientific achievements to step up exploitation, intensify labour and strengthen their own military-political domination.
Natural science cannot be disconnected from ideology, from the ideological struggle. Bourgeois ideologists are endeavouring to interpret science in a way that would preclude any materialistic conclusions and make it impossible to employ it in the struggle against religion. They portray science not as objective knowledge of the laws of nature, but as a man-created system of views and ideas devoid of the objective truth.
If science does not convey the objective truth then it is impossible to distinguish the real from the false, scientific knowledge from religious or any other dogma.
80Thus, while being interested in implementing science in industry, the bourgeoisie fights the system of views which is based on science.
Under socialism science serves the whole of society, the working people, and there are all conditions for promoting science and its all-round application in the interests of historic progress.
The fusion of science, of scientific and technological progress with the gains and advantages of the socialist system of economy is one of the primary sources of society's progressive development.
Social consciousness is a complicated manifold phenomenon. We have seen that it includes both ideology, with all its diverse forms, and non-- ideological forms of consciousness. Besides, the psychology of society, class or social group, i.e., social psychology constitutes a distinctive part of social consciousness. We often hear about `` pettybourgeois psychology'', ``proletarian psychology'', etc.
Social psychology is moulded under the impact of the direct living conditions of people and their everyday activity. For instance, petty-- bourgeois psychology is a term describing the qualities characteristic of a petty proprietor, a moneygrubber, a person whose interests are concentrated only on his property and the narrow world in which he exists.
In this case it is not a question of a particular person, but rather of a definite social type, of the psychology of a certain type of individual, of attitudes, traditions and sentiments prevailing in a specific social milieu, all the things which are 81 specifically refracted in the psychology of individuals.
In What Is To Be Done? Lenin wrote that the immediate living conditions of the working class under capitalism give rise to a specific psychology, specific consciousness. On the one hand, living and working conditions develop in the workers a sense of solidarity, firmness, stamina, discipline and organisation.
On the other hand, life in a bourgeois society instils in them what is called trade union mentality, awareness of the need to wage an economic struggle to improve their material conditions within the capitalist framework. Such is the psychology of a worker which is moulded by the conditions of his life in bourgeois society.
It expresses the class interest of the worker, but in a very narrow and restricted form: the worker is unaware of the antithesis of his interests and those of the bourgeoisie.
This awareness is cultivated in the proletariat by an ideology built by the theoreticians of working class on the achievements of science and social thinking. It is introduced into the ranks of the working class by its conscious vanguard---the party.
This comparison of the psychology and ideology of the proletariat also discloses the significance and the poverty of psychology. It is significant because it is fertile soil for the assimilation of the scientific revolutionary ideology, and its poverty lies in that it does not give the worker the understanding of his general class interests.
__PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__ 6---2052 82It can be said, therefore, that psychology pertains to the sphere of ordinary consciousness which guides people in their everyday activity. Ideology, on its part, comes to the forefront when it is necessary to solve crucial social problems in the course of the class struggle.
Each new generation finds that it has at its disposal the productive forces and relations of production created by the preceding generations. This makes for continuity in the sphere of society's production activity and social being. At the same time each new generation assimilates and further improves the system of knowledge and ideas of the world and society, the patterns and rules of behaviour, or, in other words, the spiritual culture it has inherited. Otherwise there can be no progress.
Not only material wealth but intellectual as well is unequally distributed in all antagonistic societies. The rich have every opportunity to raise their cultural level, while the mass of the working people oppressed by poverty and constant fear of the future, and due to their inferior education or complete illiteracy, find it difficult to do so.
Prior to the socialist revolution the vast majority of the population in Russia could neither read nor write. The abolition of illiteracy became one of the most important objectives of the socialist revolution. With this aim in view Lenin set the task of carrying through a cultural revolution which included a broad programme for surmounting the cultural backwardness of the masses and moulding a new, people's intelligentsia.
83The cultural revolution was essential for the construction of socialist society.
The building and development of socialism goes hand in hand with rapid industrial progress, the introduction of new, more sophisticated equipment, and consequently with a vast growth in the demand for highly qualified specialists.
In the course of socialist construction socialist democracy develops further on, and an increasing number of people are drawn into the administration of state affairs. But to be able to do so a person has constantly to raise his level of political knowledge and culture.
Finally, as we have already said, the ideal of socialism and communism is an individual with an all-round development who participates in creative activity.
This, however, is impossible without a high level of culture of the masses. Consequently, the solution of all problems of the building and the further development of socialism is inseparable from the continuous growth of the cultural level of the masses and the shaping of the communist world outlook in all people.
[84] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER II __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE COMMUNIST PARTY---The great revolutionary changes of the 20th century were not spontaneous. To carry them out the working class, millions of working people not only acted with supreme dedication and determination and made great sacrifices, but also displayed a high level of organisation and mastered the science and art of waging a class struggle.
Since the middle of the 19th century the proletariat continuously increased its pressure against the oppressors and exploiters. The revolutionary actions of the working class in a number of European countries in 1848, the heroic uprising of the Paris proletariat and the establishment of the Paris Commune on March 18, 1871, the Revolution of 1905 in Russia were milestones in the courageous struggle of the working masses for their emancipation.
So long as the working class did not have its own revolutionary party and lacked close unity and a high level of organisation, all its numerous efforts to alter the existing situation were of no 85 avail. Politically and ideologically the bourgeoisie was more experienced and stronger; it relied on its economic power and on the strength of the capitalist state with its army, police, courts and prisons, and the proletariat was unable to defeat it. While scientifically predicting capitalism's inevitable doom, the leaders of the working class and the founders of its revolutionary theory Marx and Engels took into account that the old system would not fall all by itself and that the bourgeoisie would not voluntarily surrender its positions. They realised that the working class would have to wage an uncompromising struggle against the exploiting classes and that it would be able to liberate itself only if it surpassed the enemy by its superior proletarian consciousness and organisation
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Role of Organisation in the Class StruggleThe founders of the communist teaching opened a great historical truth: in order to help the proletariat become aware of its class interests, to arm it ideologically and organise its struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the building of a new, communist society, it was necessary to form a militant, staunch vanguard capable of raising the broad masses of the working people for a decisive fight against the exploiting classes. What is necessary is the ``organisation of the proletarians into a class, and consequently into a political party'', Marx and Engels proclaimed in their 86 outstanding work Manifesto of the Communist Party^^*^^ This conclusion of the founders of scientific communism armed the working class with an invincible weapon.
Marx and Engels and later Lenin proved that of all the organisations established by the proletariat only a political party adhering to the revolutionary positions of scientific socialism could correctly express the fundamental interests of the working class and guide it to victory. The workers would be unable to put an end to capitalism and build socialist society if they relied solely on trade unions, mutual insurance funds and similar organisations. To achieve this aim they had to have a proletarian organisation of the highest type which would not rest content with fighting for the current economic needs of the working people, but which would set itself the target of bringing the working class to power and carrying through the revolutionary transformation of the old system.
The revolutionary party of the Communists was to become such an organisation.
In the first place the proletariat needs a party so as not to grope its way in the revolutionary struggle but to be equipped with such an understanding of the conditions, the course and the general results of the proletarian movement which would give it an absolutely clear idea of the aims of this struggle and ways of attaining them.
In view of its oppressed position which deprived _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 5, p. 369.
87 it of the opportunity to engage in scientific and political activity, the proletariat was unable to develop on its own a scientific system of concepts giving a correct idea of the development of nature and society. Such a system, Marxism-Leninism, was evolved by the great representatives of the revolutionary intelligentsia Marx, Engels and Lenin who studied and critically reappraised advanced philosophical, political and economic views and generalised the experience of the workingclass movement.As a science Marxism-Leninism has provided an integrated and harmonious system of views about the objective laws of the development of nature and society, about the revolutions of oppressed and exploited masses, the winning of political power by the proletariat (dictatorship of the proletariat), and about the building of socialism and communism the world over.
It was the mission of the Communist Party to arm the working class with this scientific knowledge and revolutionary political views, and promote its socialist consciousness. In order to do this it had to fuse scientific socialism with the working-class movement, to arm the movement ideologically and theoretically and help it stand up to and overcome the bourgeois ideology. Attaching the utmost importance to this task Lenin emphasised: ``Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement."^^*^^
Marx, Engels and Lenin also proved that the _-_-_
^^*^^ K. Marx and F. Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 1 p. 117.
88 working class needed the party in order to wage a successful economic struggle against the bourgeoisie, for better living conditions.Finally, and this is most important, the working class needed the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Party to guide its struggle for the overthrow of the capitalist system, the assumption of power and the building of socialist society. The embodiment of the Marxist-Leninist teaching about the Party in revolutionary practice opened a new phase in the history of mankind.
The establishment of a revolutionary party of the working class was not only a brilliant idea of the foremost representatives of revolutionary thought. It became an objective historical necessity at the stage when the proletariat started to develop into a class and grew aware of its class interests. The conditions of the mounting struggle against the bourgeoisie urgently demanded its unification into a political organisation.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Birth of a RevolutionaryDue to historical circumstances the world's first Marxist-Leninist Party, a party of a new type, was founded in Russia. At the turn of the 20th century the centre of the revolutionary movement shifted to Russia. A popular revolution against tsarism, which was destined to develop into a socialist revolution, was in the making.
The proletariat of Russia needed a party to guide its revolutionary movement, unite all 89 genuinely revolutionary forces and indicate the ways and means of solving the problems facing the proletariat.
Lenin realised better than anyone else what splendid opportunities would present themselves for the victory of the revolution in Russia if the working-class movement would be led by a militant and well-organised vanguard of the proletariat adhering to the positions of scientific socialism. Addressing the revolutionary workers, Lenin wrote in the newspaper Iskra: ``Before us, in all its strength, towers the enemy fortress which is raining shot and shell upon us, mowing down our best fighters. We must capture this fortress, and we will capture it, if we unite all the forces of the awakening proletariat with all the forces of the Russian revolutionaries into one party which will attract all that is vital and honest in Russia."^^*^^ And Lenin and his associates working in the difficult conditions of the underground built a party of a new type which became the militant political vanguard of the proletariat of Russia. It was called the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which was later renamed the Communist Party.
The embryo of the revolutionary proletarian party in Russia was the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. Founded by Lenin in St. Petersburg in 1895 the League played an important role in uniting social-democratic organisations in a number of industrial centres. The _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 4, p. 371.
90 First Congress of social-democratic organisations, which took place in 1898, proclaimed the formation of the RSDLP. But it was held in the absence of Lenin and his closest associates, who were in exile at the time, and failed to work out the Party's programme and rules and overcome the disunity in the social-democratic movement.The newspaper Iskra set up by Lenin helped to pave the way for the ideological and organisational unification of the Marxists of Russia into a single party. Under Lenin's guidance the newspaper rallied around itself on strictly Marxist positions local Party committees, a cohort of professional revolutionaries, and united the pick of the revolutionary proletariat of Russia.
The unification of revolutionary Marxist organisations was completed at the Second Congress of the RSDLP in the summer of 1903 which founded the proletarian party of a new type, the Leninist Party. The Congress adopted a MarxistLeninist programme of struggle for the overthrow of the autocracy and the rule of landowners and capitalists, and for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat as an instrument of the socialist transformation of society.
Lenin and his associates upheld the idea of establishing a Marxist revolutionary party in an acute struggle against the anarchists, Narodniks, Economists and other proponents of anti-Marxist trends, who were pushing the proletariat on a false path and did their utmost to persuade the workers that they did not need their own party. The anarchists, for example, rejected the need of any 91 political organisation in general. The anarchosyndicalists said that the working class should not engage in politics and that it could get along very well with only the trade unions (syndicates). The Narodniks, who adhered to liberal positions, advanced a programme of petty reforms and in fact gave up the struggle against tsarism. The Economists lauded the elemental strength of the working class and suggested that all efforts should be concentrated solely on organising the workers' economic struggle against the proprietors and the government. Proceeding as they did from false conceptions of the ways of altering the capitalist reality, all those who called themselves ``friends of the working class" and ``friends of the people" actually weakened the proletariat and tried to leave it without a militant revolutionary party.
The founding of a Marxist-Leninist Party in Russia was a great blow at opportunism in the proletarian movement and a signal victory of the working class. Lenin's words ``Give us an organisation of revolutionaries, and we will overturn Russia!" uttered on the threshold of the 20th century proved to be truly prophetic. The Communist Party which he created rallied the working class ideologically and politically, correctly orientated it, framed the strategy and tactics of revolutionary struggle and piloted the entire course of the socialist revolution. The Great October Socialist Revolution triumphed under the direct leadership of the Communist Party headed by Vladimir Lenin.
92 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Communist Party and SocialismHaving entered the political scene as a militant vanguard of the working class, Lenin's Party not only ``overturned Russia" and set her forth on the path of all-round renovation and progress, but also inaugurated a turn in the destiny of the whole of mankind, a turn from capitalism to socialism.
By bringing the working class to power the Communist Party fulfilled one of its most important tasks, which, however, was only part of its historic mission. Further on, the Party and the working class had new tasks to cope with, more complicated and immense. They had to guide and organise all work on the revolutionary restructuring of society, i.e., destroy the old and build a new economic system, strengthen the young socialist state of workers and peasants, cultivate new relations between the people in all fields of human endeavour, promote the general cultural level of the people and educate them in the spirit of communist consciousness.
The Party, as Lenin put it, had the task of ``assuming power and leading the whole people to socialism, of directing and organising the new system, of being the teacher, the guide, the leader of all the working and exploited people in organising their social life without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie".^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25, p. 404.
93Under the guidance of the Communist Party the world's first socialist society was built in the Soviet Union. Thus, history irrefutably confirmed the Marxist-Leninist conclusion that the revolutionary party of the working class is essential for bringing down the capitalist system and building socialism.
On the eve of the October armed uprising a fairly large number of parties were active on the Russian political scene. The Constitutional Democrats (Cadets), monarchists, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) advanced their own programmes for the ``reorganisation of Russia" and the ``salvation of the Motherland''. Some urged the restoration of the monarchy and the military-police dictatorship, others wanted to turn Russia into a type of ``Western democracy'', and still others pinned their hopes on the peasantry believing that the country's future would be shaped by what they called a ``muzhik revolution''.
Lenin and the Communists were the only ones who realised that 20th century Russia could advance only towards socialism, which alone could bring the peoples out of the blind alley into which imperialism had led them. And as time showed they did not err.
Created under capitalism to meet the demands of social progress, the Communist Party proved to be the sole political organisation capable of waging a consistent struggle for the interests of the working class and all working people, for the realisation of socialist and communist ideals.
94The CPSU and the Marxist-Leninist parties in other socialist countries are the only political parties in history which succeeded in bringing society to the high form of organisation of life known as socialism. Everything that the Soviet people and the peoples of socialist countries have achieved in the sphere of social reorganisation, in the development of the economy and democracy, in raising the material and cultural level of the people is closely connected with the leading role of the Communist parties. No other party that advanced the programme of socialist reorganisation of society was able to carry it out. Experience has proved that without a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Party to guide it the working class cannot accomplish a socialist revolution and build socialist society. That is why both the overt and covert enemies of communism are conducting a furious political and ideological offensive against the Communist parties knowing full well that their activity is the most powerful weapon of the working class in its struggle for the renovation of the world.
How can it be explained that only the Communists proved to be capable of guiding the profound social transformations and leading society along the path of progress and civilisation? Wherein lie the wellsprings of the strength and influence of the Communist parties? In order to answer these questions it is necessary to look not only into the history of the revolutionary struggle of the working class and its parties, but also examine the character and nature of the Communist 95 parties as political organisations created for the purpose of effecting genuinely revolutionary transformations of social life. The explanation is found in the ideological, political and organisational principles underlying the activity of the Communist parties.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ WHAT KIND OF A PARTYNow the world revolutionary movement draws on the enormous experience of the CPSU and other Marxist-Leninist parties and, therefore, it is absolutely clear what the revolutionary vanguard of the working class should be like. But at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when the working class of Russia was just emerging in the broad arena of political struggle against the autocracy and the bourgeoisie, this question, naturally, was the subject of fierce debates.
The history of the working-class and communist movement showed that the elaboration and creation of the perfect form of organisation of the proletarian vanguard was a matter of crucial importance for the working class struggling to attain its objectives. And although by the turn of the century, when the revolutionary struggle entered a period of fresh upsurge, the world working-class movement had already existed for decades, it had no example on which it could pattern its own militant vanguard.
96The West European Social-Democratic parties, which at the outset of their activity considerably influenced the working-class movement, had by that time largely undermined their prestige and lost their former influence. Their inability to guide the revolutionary struggle manifested itself most forcefully in the imperialist epoch characterised by the aggravation of all the social contradictions. West European Social-Democracy slipped down to opportunist positions and became reconciled with the capitalist system. Instead of preparing the masses for revolutionary action, they often limited their activity to parliamentary statements and declarations.
There was no longer any doubt that the working class needed a party of a new type in order to struggle successfully against capitalism. Lenin was the first among the Marxists to apprehend this. In What Is To Be Done?, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back and other works he developed the teaching about the revolutionary Marxist Party and upheld the Marxist principles of building the party of working class in a decisive struggle against opportunists of diverse hues.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Party of a New TypeLenin defined the main purpose of the party of the working class and designated the main trends of its activity. He presented irrefutable arguments confirming the idea that the Marxist-Leninist Party was destined to fuse the working-class 97 movement with scientific socialism, become the guiding force and the political leader of the proletariat, its vanguard uniting and directing its class struggle into the channel of socialist revolution. This conclusion is one of the basic tenets of Marxist-- Leninist science.
The Marxist Party, as Lenin showed, is an element of the working class, its vanguard. The Party must not be confused with the entire class, just as it is impossible to reckon every striker or sympathiser as being in the Party. Admission to membership of unreliable petty-bourgeois elements or the cluttering up of Party organisations with just anyone merely wishing to enrol weakens the Party. The Party is formed by admitting to its ranks the finest representatives of the working class, the most conscious, organised and selflessly dedicated to the cause of the revolution. Only on this condition can the Marxist Party be the vanguard of the working class and lead the entire proletariat.
The Party is the vanguard also because it is armed with Marxist theory, with a knowledge of the laws of social development and class struggle and therefore is in a position to set the working class correct objectives and designate effective means of struggle. The Party develops the Marxist theory by creatively applying its premises in concrete historical conditions.
Lenin worked out the organisational principles of building a Marxist-Leninist Party of the working class and formulated the norms of Party life. Substantiating the need for a clear-cut and __PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7---2052 98 efficient organisation of all Party links, Lenin made the point that in capitalist society the working class is confronted with the combined strength of monopoly capital and the bourgeois state standing guard over its interests. The exploiting classes have the army, police, courts, prisons, a huge propaganda machine and vast material means at their disposal. And the working class and its revolutionary party will be able to overcome this great force only by consolidating their ranks and attaining a high level of organisation.
History has also shown that the Party has to be just as monolithic and well organised after the revolution too to enable the working class in alliance with all the working people to carry through crucial social reforms in conditions of class society and successfully build socialism. In order to solve the immense tasks which arise in the course of socialist construction the Communist Party must have a centralised structure and exercise centralised guidance of all its organisations and members. These tasks can be solved only by a Party which due to its high level of organisation and proletarian self-discipline can extend its influence over all spheres of public life and together with the working class and other sections of the working people uphold and carry into effect the ideals of socialism.
Consequently, the Party must not only be an advanced, but also a well-organised contingent whose members display unity of will, action and discipline. ``The Party,'' Lenin wrote, ``is the politically conscious, advanced section of the class, it 99 is its vanguard. The strength of that vanguard is ten times, a hundred times, more than a hundred times, greater than its numbers.
``Is that possible? Can the strength of hundreds be greater than the strength of thousands?
``It can be, and is, when the hundreds are organised.
``Organisation increases strength tenfold."^^*^^
It is inconceivable that a militant proletarian vanguard, a genuinely revolutionary party, should resemble an unorganised amorphous mass. The Party is not only unity of ideas, of ideological positions, it is also unity of action. And unity of action is possible only when Party members besides possessing rights are also charged with definite responsibilities and maintain discipline and organisation. The susceptibility of the working class to organisation and discipline facilitates the formation of the Party as the highest form of class organisation of the proletariat.
The fact that organisation is not an aim in itself but a means of attaining an aim, does not in the least belittle its role. No purposeful collective activity can be successful without corresponding organisation. And the greater the number of people involved the greater the need for organisation. An unorganised mass of people, no matter how great, is nothing more than a throng of individuals.
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 19, p. 406.
100 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/FPS559/20071205/199.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.12.05) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ALPHA_LVL3__ FormsAt the same time practice shows that not just any organisation can ensure the achievement of specific aims. They are attained only given corresponding organisation and means. The forms of organisation depend on the tasks which people set themselves and also on the conditions in which they act. For example, production requires oneman management and implicit subordination of all its participants to the will of a single person. Or, say, the armed forces can successfully defend the state only if each unit whether large or small is efficiently organised and obeys its commander. But an entirely different thing is, for instance, a society for the protection of nature, or a society of anglers and hunters which impose totally different demands on the members.
The Communist Party is a political union of foremost representatives of the working class and other toiling classes and social strata that has set itself the historical objectives of overthrowing the exploiting system and enforcing wide revolutionary changes in social life. In order to carry through this vast and enormously complicated task the Party should have the most perfect form of organisation; it is imperative that it should be closely united ideologically and organisationally. "The political consciousness of the advanced contingent,'' Lenin emphasised, "is, incidentally, manifested in its ability to organise. By organising it achieves unity of will and this united will of an 101 advanced thousand, hundred thousand, million becomes the will of the class."^^*^^
The organisational strength of the MarxistLeninist Party, therefore, is a factor of primary importance both during the struggle for power and after the socialist revolution, in the period of socialist and communist construction. History offers many examples showing that no genuinely socialist programme can be carried out if the organisational structure of the Party and the nature of inner-Party relations do not fully ensure the complete unity of action of the Communists.
Since its appearance the working-class movement has known various forms of organisation. The most effective one and corresponding most fully to the character and aims of the Communist Party and the conditions and the nature of its activity proved to be the organisation of the Party according to the principle of democratic centralism. Set forth in general terms by Marx and Engels, this principle was thoroughly substantiated and elaborated by Lenin.
Lenin considered that the Party could not fulfil its mission if it did not maintain close ties with the working-class masses, with millions of working people. Since the masses are the decisive force of social progress, the Party will be unable to influence the course of events without expanding and strengthening these contacts, without the support of the masses. Neither could it develop and _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 19, p. 406.
102 grow stronger itself unless it draws fresh strength from the proletariat, from the working people.A Marxist revolutionary party differs from the other organisations of the working people in that it is the highest form of class organisation of the proletariat. The Party is in a position to lead all the other organisations of the proletariat in the common struggle for the overthrow of the system of exploitation and the establishment of socialism because it unites the most class-conscious and organised sections of the working class and has a knowledge of the laws of social development and of the ways and means of fighting capitalism.
Such are the basic requirements of a revolutionary Marxist party of the working class. First formulated by Lenin they have since been adopted by the world communist movement.
The enemies of communism and their actual allies, Right-wing revisionists, have been alleging that Lenin's ideas about the Party and the principles of Party life formulated at the beginning of the century are outdated and no longer conform to modern conditions. The experience of the world communist movement, however, refutes these assertions. Life itself has corroborated Lenin's views on these issues. The Marxist-Leninist Party passed its long test in the most diverse historical conditions: in the period of struggle for power, and in the years of socialist construction, both in the formerly backward countries such as Mongolia, and in such industrially advanced countries as the German Democratic Republic. Committed to Lenin's principles of Party development, 103 Marxist-Leninist parties are making headway in their revolutionary struggle and the building of socialism and communism. Developing and modifying certain forms of Party leadership and the organisation of inner-Party activity in keeping with the historical conditions and the fresh problems arising before them, the Marxist-Leninist parties undeviatingly adhere to Lenin's teaching about the Party.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ WHO MAKES UPThe success of a Communist Party's activity depends on the correctness of its policy, the strength of its links with the masses, efficiency of its forms and methods of work and many other factors. To a large extent it also depends on the people which the Party unites, on their abilities and aspirations. In other words, a great deal depends on the Party's social image, its composition. A party is a political association of representatives of one or several classes and social strata. Just as not every class is capable of guiding the struggle for the revolutionary transformation of society, so not every party can lead and direct this struggle.
104 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Class ApproachThe communist movement has been in existence for over a hundred years. There is the more than 50 years' experience of socialist construction in the USSR and 25 years of development of a number of other socialist countries. Therefore, it can be considered to be proved both theoretically and practically that the working class is the one and only class whose objective economic position enables it to fight consistently and to the end for socialist ideals. It has also been proved theoretically and practically that the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Party of the working class is the only party which can guide the working masses towards socialism.
Born of its class the party of the proletariat has deep-lying roots not only in the midst of the workers, but also in other sections of the people. And the more it draws into its ranks the foremost rep- I resentatives of the peasantry and the intelligentsia as well as the workers, the greater its influence in society.
The Great October Revolution, which the Communists led to victory and which put the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies in power, raised millions of people of all the toiling classes and sections of society to conscious partic- j ipation in historic events. The prospects of revolu- '. tionary socialist changes inspired a large number of workers, peasants and members of the intelligentsia to join the Party. This enabled the Party 105 to rely firmly on the masses and draw the entire people into socialist construction.
But Lenin and the Party always took into account that the dictatorship of the working class, its leadership, could be effected only through a party in which workers constituted the majority. This line in Party development has been consistently enforced since the inception of Soviet power.
In October 1917 about 350,000 Communists launched the offensive on the capitalist system. Approximately 60 per cent of them were workers, about 8 per cent peasants and 32 per cent intelligentsia and people from other sections of society. With such a social composition of the Party, Lenin pointed out, the Communists rallied around themselves "the entire vanguard of the proletariat and the overwhelming majority of the working peopie".^^*^^
The Party grew as more and more working people were drawn into socialist construction and their political awareness and activity increased. Its ranks were swelled by representatives of the working class and people from the other working sections of Soviet society. But the Party saw to it that the working class always held the leading place. It achieved this by special campaigns to enrol workers, by ideological and political work directed to this end and by modifying the conditions and practice of enrolling members to give priority to representatives of the working class.
The CPSU has always approached the question _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 56.
106 of its development from clearly-defined class positions. It has absorbed all the best features of the working class, its revolutionary energy and organisation, its devotion to the ideas of socialism and communism and the interests of the working people, its sober mind and efficiency.The building of a developed socialist society in the USSR changed the class structure of Soviet society and promoted the socio-political and moral unity of the Soviet people. The political and cultural level of the people has risen tremendously.
The Party's contacts with the masses have become still broader and more comprehensive.
From a small group of Marxists-Leninists, the CPSU since the establishment of Soviet power has grown into a genuinely mass Party with nearly 15 million full and probationary members.
One out of every 11 adult Soviet citizens is a Communist. The formation of such a large and strong Party is a factor of fundamental importance for the working class in attaining its historic objective. The Party's contacts with the people and its ability to solve many practical questions depend largely on the proportion of Communists in various strata and groups of working people in every branch of the national economy, in each working body. It is one thing if there are Communists at a collective farm, and another if there are none at all, or if Communists comprise four or five per cent of a factory personnel or when they make up a tenth or a fifth of the workers and engineers.
[107] SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF THE CPSU IN 1973 (per cent)
Industrial workers
Collective farmers
White-collar workers
108
The social structure of the CPSU today includes representatives of practically all classes, social strata and groups, of the entire Soviet people: 40.7 per cent of its members are workers, 14.7 per cent collective farmers and 44.6 per cent are engineers, agronomists, teachers, doctors, research workers, writers, artists, actors, and administrative personnel.
While admitting to its membership the foremost representatives of the nation, the Party takes care that the working class continues to occupy the leading place in its composition. It is stated in the Resolution of the 24th CPSU Congress that this principle fully conforms to the Party's nature and the place and role of the working class in Soviet society. The working class is the vanguard of Soviet society, a class which is employed in the crucial sphere of material production, in industry, and the role played by the workers in conditions of the scientific and technological revolution is steadily mounting. Today more than six million workers are Communists.
Ensuring its growth primarily by accepting the workers, the CPSU at the same time consistently draws the foremost representatives of the collective-farm peasantry into its ranks. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the national economy accounting for more than a third of the national income. Its sustained development is essential for the building of the material and technical basis of communism. The rural Party organisations are the Party's powerful mainstay in communist construction.
109The CPSU has always attracted to Party membership the foremost representatives of the numerous contingents of the Soviet intelligentsia which is playing an important role in the life of society. In shaping its social structure the Party is striving to assess correctly the rapid numerical growth of the Soviet intelligentsia, its mounting role in communist construction, in promoting the scientific and technological revolution, in the administration and in society's cultural activities. Specialists in industry and agriculture, scientists and people in the sphere of culture and the arts comprised approximately 22 per cent of the people admitted to Party membership between the 23rd and 24th CPSU Congresses. Today 33 per cent of the engineers, 50 per cent of the agronomists and livestock experts, 25 per cent of the school teachers and 20 per cent of the doctors are Communists.
The CPSU pays a great deal of attention to the correct placement of Party members. Communists are assigned to key sectors of communist construction, and at present about 75 per cent of the CPSU members are employed in the sphere of material production.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Growth of the Party RanksThe CPSU has always attached great importance to augmenting its membership and building up a mass Party. Otherwise it would have been difficult to ensure Party guidance of all the numerous sections of socialist and communist construction and successfully solve the problems facing the 110 country. At the same time the Party makes sure that only the best representatives of the working people, capable of being in the vanguard of the working class and the whole people, arc admitted to membership.
Speaking about the need qualitatively to improve the composition of the Party Lenin noted: "We must spare no effort to make this vanguard of the proletariat, this army . . . capable of coping with the tasks that confront it. And it is confronted by tasks of gigantic international and internal importance."^^*^^ It is therefore necessary to take into account not only the social status of those admitted to CPSU membership, but also their social and political image, i.e., their ideological and political maturity, social activity and business and moral qualities.
Fulfilling Lenin's behest, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is making ever higher demands of its members and selects them accordingly. In keeping with the Party Rules each application to membership is considered individually by primary Party organisations. This imposes great responsibility on each organisation since it has to make a thorough appraisal of the merits and demerits of each applicant, assess his political and labour activity and moral qualities. In this sense the strength of the Party's influence depends to an enormous degree on the correct solution of questions concerning the admittance of new members at each factory, collective farm and office.
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 486.
111Without advancing any social restrictions to Party membership for representatives of one or another class or social stratum, the CPSU Rules nevertheless clearly state: "The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is the tried and tested militant vanguard of the Soviet people, which unites, on a voluntary basis, the more advanced, politically more conscious section of the working class, collective-farm peasantry and intelligentsia of the USSR___Membership of the CPSU is open to any citizen of the Soviet Union who accepts the Programme and the Rules of the Party, takes an active part in communist construction, works in one of the Party organisations, carries out all Party decisions, and pays membership dues.''
This means that any Soviet citizen can be a Party member; nevertheless by far not all the applicants are admitted to membership. The CPSU takes into account that the future Communist must be not only a hard-working person and an honest citizen, but also an active participant in public and political life. In their overwhelming majority Soviet people are conscientious and honest. But the Party is a militant political organisation of Communists, and people are not born but become Communists. It is their ideological and political training, social and labour activity and degree of awareness of their public duty that are the main criteria for their admittance to Party membership.
The CPSU owes its moral strength and mounting prestige to the fact that its members represent the foremost section of the Soviet people and 112 selflessly serve the interests of the working people, and that revolutionary fervour, vigorous political activity and high awareness of public duty are characteristic features of Communists.
The Party has always maintained that it could best improve its composition by purging its membership of alien elements which managed to get into its ranks. Lenin drew the Party's attention to this task on more than one occasion believing that people adhering to hostile class positions, careerists and adventurers should not be allowed to remain under the banner of the Marxist revolutionary party. ''. . . It was absolutely inevitable,'' he wrote in an article headlined "A Great Beginning'', "that adventurers and other pernicious elements should hitch themselves to the ruling party. There never has been, and there never can be, a revolution without that. The whole point is that the ruling party should be able, relying on a sound and strong advanced class, to purge its ranks.
``We started this work long ago. It must be continued steadily and untiringly."^^*^^
Carrying out Lenin's behest the CPSU purges its organisations of people who proved to be unworthy of being called Communists. The Party always pays attention to both political and general education of the Communists. Practically all full and probationary members study at various levels of the Party education system. Their curriculum includes Marxist-Leninist philosophy, political economy, scientific communism, the history _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 432.
113 of the CPSU, organisational principles and development of the Party, the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, the fundamentals of political science, problems of the world communist movement and international politics, and economics. Today 50 per cent of Party members have either a higher or secondary education; about 6.6 million are specialists in various fields of knowledge, including 150,000 of those who hold scientific degrees of doctors or candidates.It goes without saying that if the Party lacked the necessary number of qualified specialists in all fields, it would have been unable either to guide effectively the development of the economy, science and culture, or successfully build the material and technical basis of communism, and transform social relations and educate members of the new society.
As the Soviet women come to play an increasingly active role in social production and public and political life, the number of women Party members becomes greater. Today they account for over 20 per cent of the membership.
The CPSU is a genuinely international party. Its membership includes the best sons and daughters of 131 nations and ethnic groups of the country.
Thus, by ensuring the qualitative growth of its ranks, the continuous consolidation of its social basis and the correct placement of Communists, the CPSU creates all the necessary conditions for successfully guiding the construction of socialism and communism.
__PRINTERS_P_113_COMMENT__ 8---2052 114 __ALPHA_LVL2__ WHAT DEMANDSThe CPSU is the recognised vanguard and leader of the people because its members are the true leaders of the masses, selflessly upholding the interests of the working people, promoting their happiness and welfare.
Communists work in all fields performing the most diverse jobs. They are workers and state and public figures, collective farmers, doctors, engineers and servicemen of all ranks. The building of communist society, the most revolutionary and lofty mission of our day and age, inspires Communists to work not for the sake of personal glory, but because they are profoundly dedicated to the Party's cause.
The Communists have always been the first to respond to Party appeals: they were in the forefront in the years of revolutionary struggle and the building of socialism, in the period of peaceful construction and in the hard years of war. And today, too, they are in the forefront. The Soviet Union's achievements in developing the natural wealth of Siberia, in space exploration and cultivation of virgin lands, in modernising technology and solving the most complicated scientific problems, have been attained as a result of the dedication and revolutionary enthusiasm of millions of Communists and scores of millions of non-Party people whom they lead.
The number of Party activists is steadily growing. There are people with fiery hearts, tireless 115 and wilful in all organisations, all sectors of communist construction. Everywhere, in production, in the state administration, in culture, Communists are a militant force. They set the pace for well-organised work, initiate new developments in production and public affairs, participate in commissions controlling economic activity, carry on political education among the population and work in the Soviets, trade unions, Komsomol and other mass organisations of the working people. No serious undertaking can be successfully carried out without guidance, assistance and initiative of Party organisations and Party members.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Communists'Since the creation of the material and technical basis of communism is the initial and most important factor of communist construction it is natural that active participation in the country's economic life is also the primary duty of all Communists.
In socialist society production activity is one of the main spheres where a Communist can display his Party spirit. A CPSU member who says a lot of good things about communism but does little to hasten its establishment and does not give all his strength to further the common cause is a bad Communist, for the simple reason that communism cannot be built solely out of good intentions, but only by dint of hard work.
116Needless to say Soviet Communists have always been in the vanguard of the labour effort, but today, when the ideals of communism are being translated into reality, it has become especially important that they should show how to work the communist way. Here personal example is worth more than the most ardent words. Labour and communism are inseparable and naturally the extent to which a person fulfils his public duty is gauged by his attitude to labour.
However important it is to set a personal example at work, a Party member has other duties too. A Communist is called a Communist because everywhere and in everything he is a political fighter, a proponent of Marxist-Leninist ideas, an organiser of the masses. A true Communist is distinguished by his vigorous public activity.
The CPSU Programme provides for the gradual transition from state forms of organisation of life to communist self-government. The attainment of this long-term target largely depends on the growing participation of the masses in state administration, on the performance of various public functions by the working people in their free time, voluntarily and free of charge. It is up to the Communists, as the most advanced and class-conscious section of the working people, to set an example in discharging public obligations. Naturally, in order to be able to play the guiding role in all spheres of political, state, economic and ideological life, such a multi-- million organisation as the CPSU should rationally organise and apportion its work among its 117 members. One of its main forms is Party assignments whose role should not be underestimated. However small and at times mundane they may seem, they are both important and significant first and foremost because they are set by the Party. In many respects the Party's work among the masses depends on how successfully Communists fulfil these assignments. By charging members and probationary members with specific duties, the Party organisation translates the Party's policy and directives into reality. Hence the great responsibility of each Communist entrusted with a specific assignment by his organisation. The rigid fulfilment of a Party assignment is the law of Party life.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ A Communist Is a Political FighterAt the same time the activity of Party members is not confined to the fulfilment of assignments. A true Communist is highly conscious of his Party duty; he is a political fighter who generously gives his strength and ability to the Party and the people whether fulfilling a specific assignment or not. In all circumstances he is an active Party propagandist and organiser of the masses. The Party supports such activity because no assignment or instruction can envisage exactly how he should act in one case or another.
The building of communism is a manifold, allembracing process which calls for the broadest initiative in all matters on the part of 118 Communists in keeping with communist ideals and the demands of life and Party conscience.
A Communist cannot be a bystander. The petty-bourgeois philosophy of "I meddle not" is alien to a Party member. All that concerns the Soviet state, the Party and the working people concerns the Communists, too.
Since the Party is an organisation of revolutionary action it draws its strength from the fact that its members by their daily activity uphold the reputation of the Party. A Communist remains a Communist so long as he acts in the interests of the Party.
A Party approach means that a Communist always and everywhere seeks to improve things without shirking difficulties.
A Communist has to do much more than merely conscientiously to perform his specific job for a wage, for a fixed remuneration. In line with the principles of Party organisation and activity a Communist, whether he holds a leading post or is a rank-and-file worker, is entrusted with a share of general Party work. All Communists without exception are duty bound to work actively among the masses.
There is no better indicator of a Communist's awareness of his responsibilities as a Party member than his attitude to public and to personal interests. A Communist places the interests of the Party, the state, the people and the collective above his own. This does not mean, of course, that Communists lead a life of self-denial and are concerned solely with production and public 119 work. Like all people they have a wide range of cultural and other interests. They derive satisfaction and joy not only from public activity, but also from family life and purely personal interests and attachments. They can always draw on the example of the teachers and leaders of the working people---Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Vladimir Lenin, who were ardent revolutionaries but who did not spurn the joys of life.
A Communist, however, has a notable quality characterising his approach to all personal matters.
For a Communist public and personal interests are indivisible, but the personal never obscures the great cause for which he joined the Party. Whenever necessary he will forsake his personal wishes and comfort to further the interests of the Party and the people. It cannot be otherwise. That is why Communists have such a high reputation among the people.
The Party is a voluntary union, and people join it only if they wish to do so. On its part the CPSU admits only those people who have realised the need to be in the forward ranks, who are ready at their own free will to devote their strength and knowledge to the communist cause. The Party is strong because it is a union of industrious people, for the energetic activity of a Communist is the source of strength of each Party organisation and the Party as a whole.
The people of the USSR regard the Party as their militant vanguard, and each Communist is an example of determination and efficiency.
120Today, when the Party is coming to play still greater role as the organiser of communist construction, it is most important that all Communists and Party organisations raise their activity to a higher level to cope with the key problems of social development in the USSR. The creation of the material and spiritual prerequisites for building communism calls for tremendous creative energy on the part of the people. It is the primary duty of all Party organisations to generate this energy in each collective, fuse the efforts of the working people and direct them towards the achievement of the common aim. And the better each Communist performs his Party duty, the sooner this task will be accomplished.
Passive attitude and indifference are alien to the very spirit of the Communist Party, its ideological and organisational principles and traditions.
``The Party,'' said General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in the CC CPSU Report to the 24th Party Congress, "cannot accept passivity and indifference. If you are a Communist your duty is not to shirk difficulties, not to encourage backward attitudes, but to be a politically conscious and active fighter of the Party. Always and everywhere---in work, social activities, study and everyday life---a Communist must remain a Communist and worthily bear the lofty title of member of our Leninist Party.''
121 __ALPHA_LVL2__ HOW THE COMMUNIST PARTYHaving guided the Soviet peoples into socialism the CPSU is now fulfilling its mission of directing communist construction. Its progress in this field is very largely due to the fact that the relations between Communists and the innerParty life are based on principles which make the Party strong and monolithic, bolster its militant spirit, stimulate the political activity of its members and are in keeping with the character of the political organisation of the vanguard of the Soviet people.
The CPSU unites 379,000 Party organisations and millions of Communists. It includes large Party organisations at giant industrial enterprises, and organisations with only a few Party members. Its members represent various social strata and the most diverse occupations. At the same time, the CPSU is an integral social organism. Each Party organisation is its living cell. It is connected with the entire Party both ideologically and organisationally, and lives and acts in keeping with the rules regulating the activity of the Party as a whole. These rules are called Leninist in honour of the man who laid them down.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Democratic CentralismThe pivotal organisational element of the life and work of Communists is the Leninist principle of democratic centralism that combines the 122 broadest independent activity of Party members with respect for the will of the majority, strict discipline and subordination of lower organisations to those standing at a higher level. It was democratic centralism that gave the vanguard of the working class of Russia and later of other countries the monolithic stability and strength which made it possible to wage drawn-out and victorious battles against class enemies and fight successfully for socialism and communism. The CPSU proceeds from the basis that in order successfully to guide society it is essential that all Party organisations consistently adhere to the principle of democratic centralism.
Democratic centralism is the organic unity of democracy and centralism. Their fusion makes the Party capable of vigorous political action, develops the initiative of the Communists and at the same time helps the Party act with confidence and determination.
The need to build a Communist Party on democratic principles stems in the first place from the determinant role played by the working class, the working masses in the historical process. The Marxist-Leninist thesis about the role of the popular masses in shaping history likewise applies to Party members, the Communists. While the mass of people is the main force of society, the Communists are the main force of the Party. Therefore inner-Party relations are built in such a way as to enable the Communists decisively to influence the elaboration of policy, the formation of all leading Party bodies and display their 123 initiative. The correct implementation of the principle of democratic centralism in the organisation of inner-Party life makes all this possible.
Democratism is closely connected with the very nature of the Communist Party. The Party is a voluntary political organisation, a union of Communists sharing the same ideas. Therefore the members of this union have equal rights and share common duties and responsibilities. All Party members, Lenin noted, participate in all the affairs of the Party on an equal footing without any exception either directly or through their representatives.
The Communists are the supreme authority in their organisation and their vote is decisive at a Party meeting, just as the vote of their delegates is decisive at a Party conference or congress. Communists shape the Party's policy and the decisions of their organisation. In the final count all inner-Party relations are based on this Leninist principle.
Party democracy is a system under which Communists feel themselves masters of their organisation, competent to conduct all its affairs and be responsible for them. It is written down in the CPSU Programme: "The development of inner-Party democracy must ensure greater activity among Communists and enhance their responsibility for the realisation of the noble ideals of communism. It will promote the cultivation in them of an inner, organic need to act always and in all matters in full accordance with the principles of the Party and its lofty aims."
124Inner-Party democracy is guaranteed by the principle of electiveness of all leading Party bodies, collective Party leadership, mandatory responsibility of the leading bodies to Party members, publicity of Party life and the equal rights and equal responsibilities of all Party members. It is also ensured by the fact that all questions of Party activity are discussed and decided on a broad democratic basis.
In conformity with the CPSU Rules each Communist has the right to discuss freely all questions of Party policy and practical matters at Party meetings, conferences and congresses, at the meetings of Party committees and in the Party press. He can put forward proposals and openly express and defend his views until his organisation passes a decision. He has the right to criticise any Communist, whatever his post, at Party meetings, conferences, congresses and at plenary meetings of Party committees. Any suppression of criticism or persecution of a person for his critical remarks is strictly penalised within the Party.
A Party member has the right to be present at Party meetings and sittings of Party bureaus and committees when the question of his activity or behaviour is up for discussion. He is entitled to submit questions, applications and recommendations to any Party organisation right up to the CPSU Central Committee and demand a comprehensive reply.
Centralism is no less important in the organisation of the system of inner-Party relations. 125 Inner-Party democracy, as Lenin saw it, is closely associated with discipline, which is identical for all Communists, and with centralism in the work of all Party organisations.
In socialist society, as we have said above, the Communist Party is the organiser of all socio-economic transformations. For the Party to be able to embody consistently the ideals of the working class in all spheres of social activity, all its organisations must be guided by uniform political and organisational principles, by a single programme and rules, have a single leading centre and be equally subject to Party discipline.
Centralism is also necessary because the Party acts as an integral political community of people with a single conviction, the Marxist-Leninist world outlook. Finally, people join the Party so as to act all together and not separately. Not a single Party member could rely on the Party and the Party itself could not firmly rely on any Communist if they were not welded together by the unity of organisation. Any person who does not want to act alone, out of contact with the Party, but strives for joint effort, relying on the strength of the organisation and the compounded abilities of the Party's fighters, must inevitably take into account the will of his organisation and the whole Party.
That is why the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is a centralised organisation with its activity based on ideological, political and organisational principles common to all its links. It has a single supreme guiding body---the Party 126 Congress---while between the congresses the top Party body is the Central Committee. Decisions of Party Congresses and of the Central Committee are binding on all Communists. All Party organisations are subordinated to the Party centre; the decisions and instructions of higher Party bodies are binding on all lower bodies; the minority in all organisations and their leading bodies is subordinated to the majority. Centralism also means that the lower bodies have to report to the higher ones, and that Communists have to report to their Party organisations. It also implies rigid Party discipline and equal responsibility to the Party of all its members whatever their posts.
In this respect the revisionists adhere to opposite views. Disregarding facts and historical practice they strive to prove that as a principle of organisation of Party life democratic centralism has outlived itself long ago and should be discarded. Yet rejection of democratic centralism as the guiding principle of the Party's organisational structure, or any extenuation of this principle will expose the Party to great danger.
While Right-wing revisionists want to reduce the Party to the level of a debating society, the ``Left''-wing pseudo-revolutionaries are striving to turn it into a military-bureaucratic organisation implicitly obeying its ``leader''. In spite of their outward distinctions, it is easy to see that the Right and ``Left'' opportunists are united in their negation of the Leninist principles of Party development and life which have been 127 tried and tested by the entire world communist movement.
Marxism-Leninism does not regard democracy and centralism as two separate principles, but as two facets of a single principle, as a foundation of all inner relations in the Communist parties. It is impossible to draw an opposition: either centralism or democratism, for the two cannot be separated. The Central Committee Report to the 24th CPSU Congress noted: "Both anarchic lack of discipline, presented as democracy, and bureaucratic centralisation, hindering the promotion of the initiative and activity of Communists, are equally injurious to the Marxist-Leninist Party.'' Only by developing on the basis of democracy and centralism will the Party be able to strengthen inner-Party relations.
The strengthening of the Party and the enhancement of its role in society depends wholly on the all-round promotion of a democratic atmosphere in all its organisations and leading bodies, collective discussion of key issues, the increasing role of each member in the affairs of his organisation, promotion of the initiative of the lower organisations coupled with the consolidation of centralism and discipline and greater responsibility for the implementation of the Party's policy and the decisions of the Party organisations.
The fact that organisationally the Communist Party develops not in keeping with subjective wishes and views, not spontaneously, but on the sound scientific foundation, according to the 128 objective laws of contemporary social development and in conditions of class struggle, endows it with great strength and advantages over the bourgeois and reformist parties.
Democratic centralism in the Party rests on the clear-cut structure of its organisations. Primary Party organisations set up at places where Communists work are united into district and city organisations in keeping with the country's administrative-territorial division; all district organisations of a region or territory are united into a regional or territorial organisations, and so forth. The organisation servicing an area is higher than all the Party organisations servicing its various parts. This structure, which takes into account the decisive role of the working collectives in the life of the country and the existing state-administrative pattern, enables the Party more effectively to guide the activity of Party organisations and influence the corresponding state, economic and public organisations in attaining the common goals.
Despite their varied composition and the different conditions in which they operate, the organisations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union comprise a single unit and have the same Programme and Rules.
In line with the existing administrative-- territorial division of the country, the CPSU unites 14 Communist parties of the constituent republics, 6 territorial, 142 regional, 10 area, 774 city, 480 urban district and 2,832 rural district organisations.
129 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Election and AccountabilityIn the CPSU, leadership from bottom to the top is effected on the basis of self-government, and first and foremost on the basis of election and accountability of the leading Party bodies to the Party masses. ''. .. All officials, all leading bodies, and all institutions of the Party are subject to election, are responsible to their constituents, and are subjest to recall."^^*^^ This pattern of inner-Party relations promotes the spirit of comradely co-operation in the Party and is a reliable foundation for Party activity.
The Communists either directly or through their delegates decide who should be entrusted with organisational or other leading functions in the primary Party organisation, in the district, city or regional Party committees and in the Central Committee, who is worthy of such trust and is capable of living up to it. The right of Party members to form their leading bodies is a matter of decisive significance. The Party effectuates its policy through people. And since a Party organisation is concerned with successfully carrying out its policy which embodies the will of the Communists in big and small matters, it promotes the most deserving to leading posts. Lenin considered that such an approach would make the choice "not the result of clannishness, friendship or force of habit. . . but the result of the _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 11, p. 434.
__PRINTERS_P_129_COMMENT__ 9---2052 130 considered decision of the 'rank and file' themselves (i.e., of all the members of the Party) as to their own political conduct".^^*^^The leading bodies of the CPSU organisations are made up of workers, collective farmers, representatives of all social strata and groups, of all the nationalities of the country, people employed in various state, public, economic and cultural sectors. On the eve of the 24th CPSU Congress 423,000 workers and collective farmers were elected to the Party bureaus and committees. Of the total number of members and alternate members of district and city Party committees nearly 40 per cent are workers and collective farmers. The number of workers and collective farmers has also increased in the regional and territorial committees and in the Central Committees of the Communist parties of the constituent republics.
Leading Party bodies periodically report on their activity to Party members at conferences and congresses. These reports are scheduled in keeping with the CPSU Rules.
Reports are an indispensable form of democracy in the CPSU, one of the most effective means by which the Communists control the activity of their leading bodies. These reports give the Communists the opportunity to verify how Party bureaus and committees fulfil their mandates and suggestions and how the decisions of a Party organisation and the policy of the _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 11, p. 435.
131 Party are carried into effect. This is not only the right but also the duty of Party members. Communists follow Lenin's instructions who wrote: ''. . .the Party itself is obliged to see to it that its Rules are observed by its functionaries. . . . He who cannot demand successfully of his agents the discharge of their Party duties towards those who entrusted them is unworthy of the name of Party member."^^*^^One can judge of the extent of this control and the activity of the Communists by the activity of the Party members at meetings held to hear reports and elect Party organisations. Annually more than three million Communists, or almost a quarter of the total, speak at such meetings and conferences in primary Party organisations.
It has become the practice in many regional and territorial committees and in the Central Committees of the Communist parties of the constituent republics to report on the fulfilment of decisions and their work at statutory plenary meetings of the Bureau of the Party Committee. In between conferences district and city Party committees periodically deliver information reports in the biggest Party organisations. Similarly, regional and territorial Party committees and the Central Committees of the Communist parties in the constituent republics inform the Party functionaries and all Communists.
The regular reports of Party bodies, which have become a rule in the CPSU, testify to the great viability of Party democracy. The steady _-_-_
^^*^^ Ibid., Vol. 8, p. 224.
132 growth of the political activity of the Communists, the increasingly principled stand of the Party organisations and their mounting demands of their members show that the Communists, as fullfledged members of the Party, not only fulfil the instructions of their chosen representatives, but also help them and control their activity.Party organisations always bear in mind that the effect of the Leninist principle of accountability depends not only on the need to deliver reports regularly, but above all on how free, thorough and consistent is the discussion of the activity of the bureau, committee or secretary of the Party organisation. Reports are not a formality; their purpose is to enable Communists to sum up the work done, plan ways of improving it and assess how their representatives fulfilled their obligations. The Party considers this the most important aspect of the reports.
It goes without saying that inner-Party democracy is not only the observance of democratic principles during the elections and reports of Party bodies, or the solution of problems. Democracy is characteristic of all the work carried on by the entire Party and its organisations.
The Party attaches great importance to informing all Communists of Party activity, to improving inner-Party information. The CPSU Central Committee regularly informs local Party bodies, the functionaries and all Communists as well as broad sections of the people about the key problems of the Party's work and the country's domestic and international situation. Local Party 133 bodies regularly inform the higher Party bodies, right up to the Central Committee, about their work and problems. Such information helps the leading Party bodies to size up the situation and to take into account the experience and opinion of Party organisations and the working people when resolving problems. Regarding inner-Party information as an important instrument of leadership and means of education and control, the CPSU takes measures to make it more operational and effective.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Party Discipline and ResponsibilityThe CPSU pays close attention to another very important aspect of the Leninist principle of democratic centralism, namely strict accountability and responsibility of Party members to their organisation for the fulfilment of Party decisions, observance of Party discipline and mandatory accountability of the lower bodies to the higher: the primary Party organisation to the district committee, the latter to the regional committee, and so forth. This is not a formal matter and the Party attaches fundamental importance to it. The endeavours of the Party and the nation will be successful only with the steady observance of Party discipline by all Party organisations and bodies from top to bottom. Carelessness and irresponsibility in the fulfilment of Party decisions are incompatible with the Party's high mission.
134The Leninist principle of democratic centralism means uncompromising demands imposed by both the Party members on the elected leadership, and by the Party committees on the Communists. This mutual responsibility is a stimulus of the Party's activity and a guarantee of the further enhancement of the role and prestige of each Party organisation.
Free discussion of matters of Party policy and practical activity in every organisation is an essential condition ensuring unity of action of the Communists. But when the question is solved each Party member is duty bound to carry out the will of the organisation. When questions have been considered and the decision adopted all Communists act as one.
Of course, there can be various approaches to questions of practical activity. The coincidence of the basic aims and interests of an individual Communist and the Party does not mean that there is bound to be perfect harmony on all questions. Life has many complexities, and economic, political and cultural development in a socialist society is not left to chance. This development is accompanied by many difficulties and contradictions which have to be overcome. And frequently, in order to fulfil one or another task in the spirit of Party decisions a Communist has to act with civic courage, integrity and selflessness.
The CPSU Rules provide guarantees both against the violation of Party discipline and against the infringement on the Communists' rights. These guarantees always bring out the 135 truth whenever the rights of a Party member are violated. Lenin wrote that it would be " inexcusable to forget that in advocating centralism we advocate exclusively democratic centralism".^^*^^ The Party's common will can be created only democratically.
Mechanical discipline, which the apologists of capitalism claim is maintained by Soviet Communists, is in fact alien to the CPSU: its discipline is conscious.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Criticism and Self-CriticismThe CPSU consistently promotes criticism and self-criticism in its practical activity. This is necessary due to the objective processes of social life which give rise to contradictions, and to the errors and shortcomings springing from subjective causes. The building of socialism and communism is associated with critical and continuous appraisal of social processes from the point of view of Marxist-Leninist laws. It requires thorough understanding and support of all new phenomena that personify social progress, and relentless struggle against everything that is obsolete, conservative, all impediments in the way of progress.
The Party and the Soviet people are justly proud of their successes in communist _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 20, p. 46.
136 construction. At the same time the Party teaches the Communists not to be conceited and to regard each achievement only as a step towards fresh victories.Lenin regarded the Party's ability critically to analyse its activity and frankly admit and then rectify errors and shortcomings as a sign of its seriousness and fitness to carry out socialist transformation. Censuring any embellishment of the actual state of affairs he called on the Communists to be judiciously mistrustful of bragging and not to ignore shortcomings, but to expose and adjust them.
The Communists undeviatingly follow Lenin's instruction to study the experience of building a new society so as to draw the lessons for the future not only from successes, but also from shortcomings and errors.
The norms of inner-Party life effective in the CPSU guarantee the extensive development of criticism and self-criticism. But, of course, the Communists support only that kind of criticism which improves Party activity and promotes the solution of problems.
Party criticism is constructive and especially effective when in addition to censuring shortcomings and errors it exposes their causes and shows how they can be remedied. Such an approach is characteristic of CPSU Congresses and Central Committee Plenary Meetings at which the Party works out concrete measures of improving the management of the economy, raising the activity of the Party and state bodies among the 137 people to a higher level, and perfecting the style and methods of Party and state leadership. The introduction of these measures has ensured very considerable progress in all fields of communist construction.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Collective Leadership of the PartyLenin maintained that collective leadership was indispensable for the successful activity of the Party and its organisations.
Many problems arise in the course of socialist revolution and socialist and communist construction. Their solution requires careful consideration, scientific approach and effective leadership of the practical activity of the working people. The Party has to make a searching and objective analysis of the existing situation, have a thorough knowledge of the nation's interests, take into account the opinions of large sections of people and utilise the experience of the masses. There is no better way of fulfilling all these tasks than by employing the method of collective leadership, one of the fundamental principles of the activity of Marxist-Leninist parties.
The method of collective decisions and actions, stems from the very character of the Communist Party.
Collective leadership makes it possible to rely on the knowledge and experience of a large number of Party members. And collective discussion and solution of complex problems of 138 social development enables the Party to assess them more thoroughly and objectively.
Collective leadership at all levels and links of the CPSU is law. There are regular congresses of the CPSU and the Communist parties of the Union republics, regional, territorial, city and district Party conferences, and general meetings of primary Party organisations.
Plenary meetings of Party committees and meetings of their executive bodies are also held regularly. In the period between the 23rd and 24th Congresses of the CPSU its Central Committee held 16 plenary meetings to consider important domestic and foreign policy questions. The meetings of the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee and the meetings of the CC Secretariat take place once a week.
The Party sees to it that meetings, conferences, plenary sessions and congresses most fully express the will of the Communists of the respective Party organisations and the Party as a whole. This is ensured by the way the Party meetings, plenary sessions and conferences are prepared and conducted, by the manner of decision-- making and by an atmosphere stimulating collective work which prevails at the meetings and conferences.
The CPSU seeks to involve in decision-making all members of Party committees and bureaus and every Communist. With this aim in view rank-and-file and committee members are assigned to prepare agendas for Party meetings and plenary sessions of Party committees.
139The Leninist principle of collective leadership means that in order to enable Communists, members of Party bodies to discuss and solve questions collectively, conditions should be created under which the collegial Party body would be in a position thoroughly to consider and resolve all issues facing the organisation.
But a collective decision is only the beginning, for if it is not translated into life, collectivity will be nothing more than empty talk.
Developed by the Party in the course of its practical activity, the Leninist principles of Party life are set down in the CPSU Programme and Rules. "Undeviating observance of the Leninist standards of Party life and the principle of collective leadership,'' states the CPSU Programme, '"enhancement of the responsibility of Party organs and their personnel to the Party rank and file, promotion of the activity and initiative of all Communists and of their participation in elaborating and realising the policy of the Party, and the development of criticism and self-- criticism, are a law of Party life. This is an imperative condition of the ideological and organisational strength of the Party itself, of the unity and solidarity of Party ranks, of an all-round development of inner-Party democracy and an activisation on this basis of all Party forces, and of the strengthening of ties with the masses.''
Consistent concern for the observance of Leninist standards and principles of Party life and the further development of inner-Party relations are a guarantee that the prestige and influence of the 140 CPSU will continue to grow in the interests of the Soviet people and the communist cause, in the interests of all progressive humanity.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ HOW THE PARTY GUIDESFor nearly six decades already the Soviet Union has been confidently advancing along the path opened by the October Socialist Revolution. And although the front of creative activity runs for thousands of kilometres passing not only through factory shops and collective-farm fields, but also through the hearts of the people, its progress is calculated in advance and the entire colossal job is meticulously planned and organised. The country's advance towards communism is sweeping and purposeful. The Soviet society owes its dynamism and determination to the political leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Guiding ForceAs the vanguard of the working class and the whole nation, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union occupies the central place in the political organisation of Soviet society: it unites the efforts of state bodies and public organisations concentrating them on the solution of problems of communist construction.
141By virtue of its character, and the forms and methods of its activity centred on policy-making, ideological education and political organising of the masses, the Communist Party is best adapted to perform such guidance. Since there are Party members and Party cells in all state and public organisations, the Party can direct their activity from within, i.e., through the Communists.
The Party is free from narrow departmental or local interests and therefore can carry through the necessary changes in the political, economic and ideological spheres with the utmost consistency and act in the best interests of the working class and the whole nation.
Historical experience shows that effective Party guidance of the state and public organisations and the success of the Party's work among the masses depend not only on the contents of its policy, but also on the mechanism of guidance and the forms and methods of work the Party employs.
In its relations with the Soviets, the trade unions, the Young Communist League and other state institutions and public organisations the Leninist Party firmly adheres to the positions of socialist democratism. This means that the Party promotes their activity in every way.
The Communist Party draws the line between its role of political leader and organiser of the people, and the functions of state bodies and public organisations. Relying on their political prestige and the trust of the people, the Party 142 bodies enhance the independence and responsibility of the bodies of people's power and public organisations. The Party carries out its decisions in the field of state administration through Communists working in the Soviets, by way of recommendations and suggestions to pertinent state and public organisations. This is fully in keeping with Lenin's demand "to increase the responsibility and independence of Soviet officials and of Soviet government institutions, leaving to the Party the general guidance of the activities of all state bodies. . .".^^*^^
The Party as the political leader of society regards it as its primary duty to outline the main political development and national problems and define the basic tasks of state and public organs in conformity with the CPSU Programme and general line, and to carry through its policy in all links of the state and public system.
The CPSU Rules state that Party organisations and their leading bodies guide the Soviets, trade unions, the Young Communist League, cooperative societies and other public organisations through their Party groups. But there can be no substitution or mixing of duties and unnecessary duplication. Whoever deviates from this rule, who interferes in the activity of state and public organisations and tries to command them or dispenses petty tutelage, consciously or unconsciously belittles the role of the Party, breeds a sense of _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 253.
143 irresponsibility among the cadres and injures the common cause.In their work Party organisations are not supposed to substitute for other bodies. And when Party organisations take to this course, their political, ideological and moral influence over the collective inevitably declines, in the first place because they are preoccupied with routine managerial functions. This style of work develops sometimes when a Party organisation forgets that its role is not that of a mere organiser of the masses, but of their political organiser. The Party formulates policy and rallies the people to translate it into practice and fulfil the tasks of communist construction. It promotes capable people to authoritative positions, educates the masses politically and together with them controls the fulfilment of the adopted decisions. As regards state administrative and economic-organisational activity, it is vested in relevant state and economic institutions.
Since the October 1964 Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee, Party activity has been characterised by an enhancement of the role of Party organisations and their leading bodies as organisations and bodies of political guidance, and the further consolidation of the role and responsibility of state and public bodies. Following the decisions of the 24th CPSU Congress Party committees increasingly concentrate on fundamental questions of social and economic development, enhancement of the political and labour activity of the masses, selection of cadres, 144 control over the fulfilment of the decisions of the Party and Government and on educational matters. This course fully corresponds to the Leninist understanding of the mission and the character of Party leadership.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Forms and Methods of Party GuidanceThe forms and methods of guidance employed by the CPSU are determined by the place it occupies in the political system of socialism, its nature and character as the political vanguard of society, and by the specific historical conditions in which it acts.
The CPSU always adapts the forms and methods of its activity to the objective conditions and targets of each specific period of communist construction. In the pre-war years they had their specific features, during the Second World War they had other features, and today they are different in many respects from those in the preceding periods. This is natural.
The CPSU has entered the new historical stage with a wealth of experience of work among the masses, the experience of building socialist society. By securing the complete and final victory of socialism---the establishment of developed socialist society---in spite of extremely difficult historical conditions, the Party has proved that it is a farsighted political leader and vanguard of the working people capable of solving the most 145 complicated problems of transforming the life of society.
In its Report to the 24th Congress the CPSU Central Committee made the point that "the main thing in the Communist Party's work is to map out the general prospects of social development, chart a correct political line and organise the working people to implement it''.
The Party is always heedful of the direction and the character of social processes. It thoroughly analyses them, correlating them with the aims and interests of the working class and all the people, and takes measures ensuring society's further progress towards socialism and communism. The Party's concern to make every step in the country's development correspond to the ideals of socialism and communism is fully in keeping with the fundamental interests of the entire Soviet nation.
To illustrate the means and methods employed by the CPSU in guiding various spheres of social activity, we shall examine its guidance of economic development.
The leading Party bodies, from the Party Congress and the Central Committee down to Party conferences and the committee of a primary Party organisation, each in its sphere, study and consider all the fundamental questions of economic development and then issue corresponding instructions or recommendations to state and economic bodies.
What are these questions? The top Party bodies above all deal with the direction, volume and __PRINTERS_P_145_COMMENT__ 10---2052 146 rate of economic development, the structure of the national economy, distribution of the productive forces, scientific and technological progress and growth of labour productivity, and also with questions relating to the national income and its distribution, budget revenues and expenditures, enhancement of living standards, improvement of the service industry, the training and appointment of personnel, educational work, and so forth. CPSU Congresses and Central Committee Plenary Meetings consider long-term and current economic development plans, economic management, the situation in various branches of industry and agriculture and ways and means of stimulating their development.
For example, the Plenary Meetings of the CPSU Central Committee in March and September 1965 drew up measures for improving the planning of production and the system of material incentives, which ensured a sustained development of industry and agriculture. The economic policy worked out by the Party over the past few years and set forth in a comprehensive form in the decisions of the 24th CPSU Congress has become the foundation of the Party and state economic activity.
Local Party bodies also consider all fundamental economic matters, including the introduction of new technology and modernisation of production, scientific organisation of labour, labour productivity and material and moral incentives.
Primary Party organisations in industry, 147 transport, communications, building, in the material and technical supplies service, in the sphere of trade, public catering, the service industry, collective and state farms and other agricultural enterprises, design and development offices, research institutes and cultural, educational and medical institutions have the right to control the work of the administration.
Party organisations in ministries, state committees and other national and local bodies and departments control the fulfilment of the Party and Government directives and the observance of Soviet laws. It is their duty to take an active part in improving the work of the apparatus and instil in all staff-members a sense of responsibility for their job. Party organisations in offices are called upon to improve their services to the population, resolutely fight against bureaucracy and red tape, inform the respective Party bodies about shortcomings in the work of offices and individual members of the staff irrespective of their posts.
The Party and its organisations check on the effectuation of the economic policy and the situation in industries and enterprises in various ways. They receive reports from economic executives and managers, regularly check up the activity of economic bodies, analyse efficiency of various economic links, and so on.
Party control, just as Party guidance of economic development in general, is designed to help the workers and managers to fulfil their tasks. Party organisations do not simply expose shortcomings and errors, they always work out 148 measures to eliminate them and together with workers' collectives take political, organisational, ideological and other steps to improve production.
Political, ideological and organisational activity of the Communists at enterprises is likewise a very important form of Party guidance of economic development. Using ideological and organisational methods, Communists working in factory shops, on construction sites and farms and thus directly engaged in the creation of the material and technical basis of communism carry through the line envisaged in the programme of communist construction.
The selection, placement and training of top personnel for the economy is another important aspect of the Party guidance of economic development. Party committees and organisations in industries promote to administrative positions people possessing the necessary political and managerial qualities.
Is it necessary for the Party to delve so deeply into economic matters? Cannot the administrations of industrial enterprises, trade unions or the workers successfully cope with all economic matters on their own?
These questions, both theoretically and practically, arose before the CPSU more than once in the course of the 58 years of the existence of Soviet power. The experience of these years has proved beyond all doubt that Lenin's point of view in his controversy over these questions with the anarcho-syndicalists (a petty-bourgeois 149 opportunist trend hostile to the proletariat) was correct. After the socialist revolution economic problems for the Communist Party, as Lenin said, became "the most interesting policy" and the "economic policy" had to be moved to the forefront.
The revolutionary transformation of capitalist economic relations into socialist and the building of the material and technical basis of socialism and communism are a complex process. It cannot develop haphazardly either on national scale, or at a single enterprise. It has to be directed in keeping with the objective laws of social development and the emerging specific circumstances. And it is the Party and its organisations which carry on this mission day in and day out.
It is the activity of the Party of Communists that enables the Soviet state to ensure the steady economic growth, foster the complex and coherent development of the productive forces and raise labour productivity and the efficiency of production. And it is the Marxist-Leninist economic policy of the CPSU that has helped the Soviet state to bring the backward hinterlands of the nation to the level of the economically advanced regions of the country, steer clear of parochialism and isolation and have no unemployment ever since the 1930s.
If the Communist Party had not concentrated its attention on the country's economic development and had not made the principle of democratic centralism the cornerstone of economic organisation, the Soviet Union would have failed 150 to attain a purposeful cohesive growth of the national economy and get rid of anarchy in economic development.
No less essential is Party guidance in the spheres of ideology and culture. The Communist Party helps the people mould society's spiritual life in such a way that it would promote the formation of communist social relations and the education of the new man in the spirit of communist ideology and morality. The Party, Lenin underlined, "must never for a moment lose sight of our ultimate goal, but always carry on propaganda for the proletarian ideology---the theory of scientific socialism, viz., Marxism---guard it against distortion, and develop it further".^^*^^ In the light of the above the Party's support of progressive developments in literature and art, and its criticism of harmful trends are not only justifiable, but vitally important.
In the acute ideological struggle between socialism and capitalism, the Party fights against all manifestations of bourgeois ideology and morality and arms the Communists and all Soviet people with the scientific Marxist-Leninist world outlook. Today, Marxist-Leninist propaganda and the political education of the masses acquire the utmost significance.
Three Programmes of the Party, each corresponding to a crucial historical period in the development of socialism (the first adopted in 1903 at the Second Congress, the second in 1919 at the _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 5, p. 342.
151 Eighth Congress and the third in 1961 at the 22nd Congress), are a concentrated expression of revolutionary thought and revolutionary practice.Expressing as it does the interests of the working class and all other toiling classes and social strata, the CPSU concentrates these interests in its policy that reflects the objective socio-economic requirements of the developing Soviet society. That accounts for the great political and moral prestige of the CPSU with the Soviet working class, the collective-farm peasantry and the intelligentsia. All the 250 million inhabitants of the Soviet Union recognise the Leninist Party as their political leader and give it all support in its undertakings.
Thanks to its immense authority with the Soviet people, the Party is able successfully to direct the activity of all state, economic and public organisations, of all working people, and channel all the material and intellectual resources of society towards the attainment of the common goal.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE GROWING ROLE OF THE CPSUThe history of Soviet society shows that the building of a new society is attended by a further enhancement of the role and importance of the Communist Party. Suffice it to recall what a "drop in the ocean'', as Lenin put it, was the Party in the first years of Soviet power and compare it with the mighty force which it is today.
152The growth of the role of the Party in guiding Soviet society is a natural development which has its specific causes and its effects.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Causes Enhancing the Role of the PartyThe CPSU Programme states that the enhancement of the role of the Party derives in the first place from the growing scale and complexity of the tasks of communist construction.
Communist transformation of society is a most complex process. It is in fact extensive creative work by the whole of society conducted in line with a science-based programme and a single plan. Therefore it is natural that this process can be directed only by such a highly developed social and political organisation connected with all classes and strata of society as the Communist Party.
Equipped with a knowledge of the laws of social development and the experience of educating and organising the masses, the CPSU can and does embrace the colossal scope of revolutionary transformations, and comes to understand the complexity and depth of the social processes occurring in the course of communist construction.
The gradual transition to communism, a system with the highest degree of development of the productive forces and social relations, naturally calls for a still higher level of political and organisational leadership.
Another important factor of the growth of the Party's leading role is the rapid development of 153 the activity and consciousness of the masses, and the extensive participation of the people in state administration. The Party is doing its utmost to encourage the initiative of the people, directing the creative enthusiasm of the masses towards the solution of the urgent problems of communist construction. Naturally, this not only increases the scope of the work performed by the Party, but also directly influences the development of the Party itself and the forms and methods of its work.
Communist construction is successful when it is conducted on the basis of broad socialist democracy with active participation of the working people and public organisations. This calls for the co-ordination of their efforts and requires the ability to turn effectively the energy and experience of the masses to the advantage of social progress. Only the Communist Party can carry out these tasks because it has no narrow-mindedness or parochial bias and enjoys great prestige among the masses.
Finally, the building of an absolutely new social system involves a profound theoretical elaboration of the ways of creating its material and technical basis, the moulding of new social relations and the education of the individual with a communist psychology and morality.
While the classics of Marxism-Leninism have given only a very general outline of the contours of the communist edifice, its detailed design and blueprints and the entire programme of social transformations are the job of the Party that has 154 proclaimed the struggle for the realisation of communist ideals as its objective and is in the leadership of this struggle.
The transition from socialism to capitalism is an objective process, though not a spontaneous one. To help this process it is necessary objectively to appraise the changes that are taking place, comprehend their dialectics, find the correct direction and ascertain the motive forces of further development and chart ways for overcoming difficulties and shortcomings. To do all this the Party has to live up to its historic mission in the realm of theory, too.
Communism can be built only given a correct, scientific understanding of the aims of social development, of the present and the future.
In guiding social processes, the CPSU proceeds from the ideas of scientific communism. It takes into account the objective demands of historical development, defines the main targets, draws up the political course and sets current tasks giving them the most sensible and optimal expression. As a result the Party is able to channel social development towards communism and direct the creative activity of the masses.
The strength of the Party's influence is immediately associated with its capacity to understand and to reflect in its policy the laws and demands of social development, with its ability to correctly solve concrete social problems and elaborate effective forms and methods of its policy. Since the Soviet people were the first in history to undertake communist construction and are following 155 new paths, it is natural that the theoretical activity of the Communist Party is very complicated indeed.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ What EnsuresThe Communist Party has adequate opportunities and means to exert increasing influence in various spheres of social life. It does this in the first place by further deepening the scientific principles of its policy, improving the forms and methods of guiding state and public organisations, raising the level of ideological and organisational activity among the masses, perfecting inner-Party relations and bolstering the vanguard role played by the Communists.
The cornerstone of CPSU leadership of communist construction is the theoretical understanding of the social processes taking place in the USSR, and the elaboration of ways, forms and methods of social transformations.
The Party fuses science with the activity of masses ensuring the unity of theory and practice. Enriching Marxism-Leninism with revolutionary practice, with the experience of socialist construction, the Communist Party searches for and finds the correct answers to problems of social development and defines its prospects. At the present stage increasing importance is being attached to the further development of the theory of scientific communism, prognostication of social development, scientific elaboration of domestic problems 156 and foreign policy issues, and defence of the revolutionary essence of Marxism-Leninism.
In its Report to the 24th Party Congress, the CPSU Central Committee noted: "Theoretical work is a major element of our common internationalist, revolutionary duty. The struggle between the forces of capitalism and socialism on the world scene and the attempts of revisionists of all hues to emasculate the revolutionary teaching and distort the practice of socialist and communist construction require that we continue to pay undivided attention to the problems and creative development of theory.''
As it creatively develops Marxism-Leninism the CPSU re-examines earlier theoretical conclusions and political decisions which lag behind the changing conditions. Dogmatism, assertion of outdated theoretical premises and formulas and of forms of social life which have outlived themselves in practice are alien to the Communist Party.
In recent years the CPSU conducted extensive theoretical work on the basis of Lenin's ideas and methodology. It has specified ways of creating the material and technical basis of communism, worked out modern methods of running the national economy, formulated the trends of the agrarian policy, elaborated on questions relating to its leading role in society and outlined topical international problems.
Thanks to its extensive links with the masses, the Party is in a position not only to put various theoretical conceptions to practical tests, but also to verify whether society is ripe enough to 157 translate them into life. This is important because a theory is valuable insofar as it can be implemented with the help of the social activity of people.
The Party has formulated and is effectuating a policy that correctly mirrors the objective socioeconomic requirements of the development of Soviet society.
Guided by Leninist principles, the CPSU has mapped out a long-term general course of development of Soviet society, defined the trend and the character of the changes in the socio-political, ideological and cultural fields, elaborated effective forms and methods of political guidance of state and public organisations, of all spheres of human activity in the country. At each new stage in the development of society, the Party becomes more skilled and efficient in guiding domestic and foreign affairs of the USSR.
Having built a developed socialist society, the Soviet people are tackling new tasks, the tasks of communist construction. This has objectively enhanced the role played by the Party as a force directing all social processes towards the attainment of a single goal, that of building communist society.
Each decision taken by Party bodies, each step they make has a far-reaching impact on society. Therefore Party committees are obliged to solve all economic, ideological and cultural matters with scientific thoroughness, to undertake only judiciously considered steps that correspond to the requirements of communist construction and the vital interests of the people.
158That is why at its 24th Congress the CPSU set the task of scientifically guiding all sections of work, at all levels down to the primary Party organisation. The Party urges its leading cadres to master modern methods of management and to ensure that each decision of its leading bodies should have a sound scientific basis. Today primary attention is focussed on the ability to organise scientifically the management of production and raise it to a high level of efficiency, promote scientific and technological progress and guide all social processes with a high degree of knowledge and skill.
A key principle of Party leadership is combination of science and politics. The CPSU bases its activity on the latest achievements in science, and on a thorough study of reality and of the internal and external conditions attending the building of communism.
Communist construction demands that the Party should consistently and thoroughly examine all social processes and phenomena and evaluate them in the light of the present and future conditions, and that it should unremittingly carry on its theoretical work. The scope and significance of this activity will increase steadily.
The growth of the Party's prestige and influence at the present stage is largely due to the fact that it elaborated and solved a range of crucial problems of the development of the socialist economy and the further enhancement of the people's welfare.
It is no less important today to increase the 159 sense of responsibility among the Party cadres, make greater demands on them, and strengthen all forms of control, especially Party control, over the fulfilment of Party and Government decisions and the realisation of economic and cultural development plans. The Soviet society with its economic basis and political superstructure is a single social organisation, an integral social system in which all links are closely interconnected. Therefore the Party strives to make precision, industriousness and discipline organic to each collective and each worker whatever his job.
The role of the Communist Party in a socialist society increases as the Party develops and improves its activity, its forms and methods of work and organisation of inner-Party life. This headway is ensured by the line adopted at the 24th CPSU Congress of further improving the methods of Party guidance of society, strict observance of the Leninist standards of Party life, further consolidation of Party ranks and all-round consolidation of its links with the working class, with the whole Soviet nation.
[160] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER III __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE HISTORICAL ROADIn his "Notes of a Publicist" Lenin compared those who accomplished the October Socialist Revolution, the builders of a new life, with a traveller ascending a steep and unexplored mountain. On his way to the coveted top, the traveller encountered unheard-of difficulties and dangers, and was even forced into temporary retreat in order to search for a more reliable path. The enemies hooted and not all his friends realised the necessity of this manoeuvre. The going was very, very difficult... .
The bourgeoisie, when it came to power in its time, received what Lenin described as a " welldesigned and tested vehicle, a well-prepared road and previously tested appliances'', for many of the prerequisites of capitalism had matured in the depths of the feudal system, while the proletariat, when it came to power, had "no vehicle, no road, absolutely nothing that had been tested beforehand".^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 205.
161From heights which they have attained and are now looking back at the 58 years of their development, the Soviet people are justly proud of their history and their accomplishments. The multinational Soviet people consciously and purposefully, in an organised manner and with great inspiration, shaped their history and under the leadership of the Communist Party built a new and better life for all working people.
It is true that something could have been done faster and better and with smaller outlays. But in order correctly to appraise what has been achieved it should be borne in mind that each step was a step into the unknown and that each milestone was passed in a determined struggle. "Socialism built in battles'', as the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote, became not only a monument to its builders, but something incomparably greater---a beacon for all the peoples. Those who are following the Soviet people's road to the cherished heights are able to facilitate their progress by drawing on the experience of the Soviet Union.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The Dawn of a New EraThe history of the Soviet land and a new era in the history of mankind began on November 7, 1917, the day when the socialist revolution was accomplished in Russia.
The developments of that period are described in history books, literary works, in the reminiscences of veteran revolutionary fighters, and depicted in documentary and feature films, all of __PRINTERS_P_161_COMMENT__ 11---2052 162 which provide a better idea of tensity and dynamism of the events, of their magnitude and their impact on history. The substance of what had taken place was described in the terse phrases of the appeal of the Revolutionary Military Committee written by Lenin: "The Provisional Government has been deposed. State power has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.. . .
``The cause for which the people have fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landed proprietorship, workers' control over production, and the establishment of Soviet power---this cause has been secured."^^*^^ Thus dawned the era of great transformations.
The Great October Socialist Revolution was not a fortuity, a "zigzag of history'', as the enemies of socialism sometimes call it. It was prepared by the entire course of world socio-economic development. Studying the laws of social development the great thinkers Marx, Engels and Lenin predicted the inevitability of socialism replacing capitalism through revolution.
The classics of Marxism-Leninism created the scientific theory of socialism, they proved that capitalism was the last form of oppression of man by man, that it would be inevitably replaced by socialism and that the new system would win through proletarian revolution.
Advanced social thought became an action in the period of the revolution because masses of _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 236.
163 working people assimilated the theory of revolution.The replacement of capitalism by socialism became an unavoidable necessity when private ownership of the means of production turned into impediment to the development of the productive forces. Organising production on an ever increasing scale for the sake of greater profits, capitalism involuntarily created its own gravedigger---the working class---and promoted its growth, cohesion and organisation.
Russia became the first country to accomplish socialist revolution and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat due to several reasons: it was in Russia that at a specific period of time the basic contradictions of imperialism became most acute, that the oppression of the capitalists and the landowners was most brutal, and that police despotism and national oppression was most insufferable. That was how the objective conditions for the revolution matured in the country; but that was not enough to ensure its victory.
An exceptionally important role was also played by subjective factors, namely, the ability of the working class to stand at the head of the masses rising in revolt for power, and the existence of an experienced party of the working class armed with advanced revolutionary theory and enjoying the confidence of the masses.
The working class of Russia proved to be all prepared to carry out the great historical mission and exploit, which fell to its lot. It developed into the most revolutionary contingent of the 164 world proletariat and drew upon its militant experience; it created its own vanguard---the Party of Communists which equipped the masses with the advanced theory of struggle for a better future and guided them to victory; it managed to find a loyal ally---the toiling peasantry of Russia--- which made up the bulk of her population.
The October Socialist Revolution was not a coup at the top---it was carried out by the masses in their own interests. The people did not want to live the old way, they became imbued with the ideals of freedom and were determined to fight for them to the end. And so they swept away the rule of the landowners and capitalists and smashed the armies of counter-revolutionary whiteguard generals and the armies of the interventionists from 14 countries which poured their troops into the country to crush the revolution.
The storming of the Winter Palace, the grim battles at Perekop, Kakhovka and Volochayevka, the exploits of the heroes of the revolution and the civil war will live for ever in the memory of the Soviet people. They draw upon these glorious examples to educate their sons and daughters to love freedom, to be brave and utterly faithful to their socialist homeland and the Communist Party.
Vladimir Lenin has gone down in history as a great scientist, leader and organiser of the popular masses, and founder of the Communist Party. A revolutionary in the highest sense of the word, he was a theoretician and practician, strategist and tactician, a great humanitarian and a principled 165 fighter, he was all that a political leader should be. His genius illumines all the victories of the people both on the field of battle and in peaceful endeavour. Having led the masses to victory in the revolution and the civil war, the Party which he founded armed the people with scientificallygrounded scheme of a future society and inspired them to launch creative activity on a scale previously unknown to history.
Yes, the revolution did not end with the victory over the enemy and the establishment of the power of Soviets: it went ahead in the entire national economy and first and foremost in industry where the people laid the foundations for socialist industry, without which no victory of socialism was possible. Lenin wrote that "the only possible economic foundation of socialism is large-scale machine industry. Whoever forgets this is no Communist.''^^*^^
The revolution also continued in the rural areas where it was necessary to transform the petty peasant economy into large-scale socialist agriculture, and turn the peasant into a conscious builder of communism, without which it was also impossible to build a new society.
The revolution continued in the cultural sphere, in the entire spiritual life of the people. Not only was it vitally important to teach people to read and write but also to make socialist ideology predominant in all spheres of society's spiritual life, to educate cadres of scientists and specialists. It _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, p. 492.
166 was necessary to build up a socialist culture, which would absorb all the best that had already been created and which would also constitute a new phase in the spiritual development of the whole of humanity.Without suspending her struggle against internal enemies, devastated by the imperialist and civil wars, famine-stricken and impoverished, surrounded on all sides by imperialist armies, Russia embarked on another great historical exploit with the enthusiasm which only a liberated people could display.
``Our cause,'' Lenin wrote, "is assured because the people have themselves set about building a new, socialist Russia."^^*^^
Tracing the 50-year history of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Leonid Brezhnev in a report delivered at a joint meeting of the CC CPSU, the USSR Supreme Soviet and the RSFSR Supreme Soviet on December 21, 1972 noted: "It is the history of the unprecedented growth and allround development of the state born of the Socialist Revolution, which is now one of the mightiest powers in the world."^^**^^
It was Lenin who advanced the plan of establishing the Soviet state. He formulated the fundamental theoretical propositions on nationalstate construction and directed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 28, p. 88.
^^**^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Moscow, 1972, p. 5.
167The famous Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia, which was adopted a few days after the October Socialist Revolution, proclaimed the equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia, the right of nations to free self-determination up to and including secession and the establishment of independent states, the abolition of all manner of national and national-religious privileges and restrictions, the free development of the national minorities, and the need for a voluntary alliance of the peoples of Russia and their complete mutual trust. The joint revolutionary struggle of the working masses against class enemies and imperialist intervention welded the peoples of Russia and her national outskirts into a close-knit political, military, economic and diplomatic union whose establishment was stipulated in a number of treaties between them.
In the course of the ensuing historical development the trends towards unification increased and strengthened. The working class, the working people of all nationalities sought to strengthen their unity, realising that in order speedily to rehabilitate the productive forces undermined by the wars, to overcome their backwardness and improve living standards they would have to pool their efforts. Moreover, it was absolutely essential for them to unite to the fullest extent possible in view of the continued threat of fresh imperialist intervention. Thus, the vital interests of all Soviet peoples, the very logic of the struggle for socialism in the country demanded the formation of a united miltinational socialist state.
168But, as Leonid Brezhnev said, the establishment of such a state required the Party's organising role, correct policy and purposeful activity.
Indeed, the Communist Party did have the necessary theoretical basis for such a policy---the Marxist-Leninist doctrine on the national question. This doctrine constituted an important component of the theory of socialist revolution.
On October 30, 1922, the First All-Union Congress of Soviets opened in Moscow. In response to the proposals put forward by the congresses of Soviets in the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Transcaucasia and the RSFSR it adopted its historic decision setting up the world's first multinational socialist state---the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On the same day Moscow was chosen as the capital of the Soviet Union.
Mentioning the exceptional importance of the Congress's decision, Leonid Brezhnev underlined: "December 30, 1922, is a truly historic date in the life of our state, an important milestone in the life of all the Soviet peoples, their great festival.''
__ALPHA_LVL2__ Socialist ConstructionWhen the Communist Party came to power it already had a science-based programme of fundamental economic changes.
The second Programme of the Communist Party (adopted at its Eighth Congress in March 1919) defined the basic tasks for the entire 169 period of transition from capitalism to socialism: it called for the completion of the process of expropriating the bourgeoisie, the transformation of all the means of production into public property, the utmost stabilisation and development of the socialist sector of the economy, the introduction of measures to raise the productivity of small individual peasant farms, and for all-round support for state farms and other collective agricultural associations. As a result of these measures, private ownership of the means of production was abolished, the proletarian state gained command positions in the national economy and established public ownership of the means of production.
A major element of the plan for socialist construction was the State Plan for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO) proposed by Lenin and approved by the Eighth Congress of Soviets in December 1920. This first single plan of economic development was worked out and approved at the height of the civil war and provided for the construction of 30 large power stations with a total rating of 1,500,000 kw within a period of 10 to 20 years. It also envisaged the creation of an advanced technological basis of socialism, a considerable increase in industrial production, the electrification of transport and agriculture. Lenin called the GOELRO plan the Party's second programme.
The main trends of the Soviet state's economic policy in the transition period, which were defined by Lenin and approved by the 10th Congress of 170 the Communist Party in 1921, have gone down in history as the New Economic Policy (NEP). They were designed to defend the revolution, save the country from economic dislocation and famine, build the foundation for the socialist economy and gradually oust and get rid of the capitalist elements.
During the civil war Soviet power had to gear the country's life to a military footing, to effectuate the policy of War Communism, which meant the nationalisation of both large and mediumsized industrial enterprises, and the introduction of the surplus-appropriation system, i.e., the requisition of surplus grain and other products for the needs of the state at fixed prices. With the introduction of NEP the surplus-appropriation system was replaced by a tax in kind which enabled the peasants to market a considerable portion of their products and consequently stimulated the growth of agricultural production. The revival of private enterprise within certain limits and the promotion of other measures which were in keeping with the peculiarities of the historical situation by no means exhausted the substance and the significance of the New Economic Policy.
In a report at a meeting marking the 50th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution, Leonid Brezhnev underlined that the principles of socialist management mapped out at the 10th Party Congress have preserved their significance to the present day. Lenin's premises concerning the combination of centralised planning with the development of the initiative of working people, 171 the utilisation of commodity-money relations, autonomous economic accounting and material incentives in labour, and the fusion of the interests of the whole of society with the interests of each individual member are still among the most important guidelines in the Party's economic policy.
At the end of 1925 the Communist Party held its 14th Congress which set the course towards socialist industrialisation that became the principal cause of the Party and the whole Soviet people.
By then many capitalist states had already passed the stage of industrial development. But in the USSR industrialisation differed from capitalist industrialisation both as regards its socioeconomic content and the methods by which it was carried out. The purpose of industrial development in capitalist countries was to strengthen the bourgeois exploiting system and the relations of domination and subordination. The distinctive feature of industrialisation in the USSR was the establishment of large-scale industry to ensure the victory of socialism over capitalism inside the country. Socialist industrialisation gave rise to new relations of production, comradely co-operation and friendship. It was fully in keeping with the interest of the millions of workers and peasants and steadily improved the welfare of the people.
Socialist industrialisation sharply differed from capitalist also as regards its methods. Capitalist countries started out by developing light industries and then gradually built up the heavy industry with the result that it took them a long time 172 to complete the process. The Soviet state was too pressed for time to follow this course. The Party always bore in mind Lenin's warning that the capitalist encirclement presented a grave threat to the Soviet Union. And since an attack by the capitalists could come any time, the USSR had to begin by building up the heavy industry and develop it at an accelerated pace.
The main distinction, however, and the most important condition of the success of industrialisation in the USSR was that it became a nationwide task in which the Soviet people displayed the utmost consciousness, discipline and fortitude. Life was difficult. Bread was rationed, there was a shortage of clothes, footwear and housing and thrift was practised at work and at home. But people knew what they were working for; they were confident of success and at times accomplished the seemingly impossible. Large numbers of people volunteered for work at the construction sites of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine, the Turkestan-Siberian Railway, the Kharkov, Chelyabinsk and Stalingrad Tractor factories, the Gorky and Moscow motor works and to build the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and the Berezniki Chemical Complex---where the mainstays of socialist industry were being established.
By 1927, the total industrial output in the USSR surpassed the 1913 level. Taking into account the scope of industrial development, the CPSU turned to long-term planning. The First Five-Year Plan which was worked out in 1928 provided for the 173 creation of the economic foundation of socialism, the ousting of capitalist elements from all spheres of the national economy and the transformation of the USSR into an industrial-agrarian power. And each successive five-year plan was a major step in enhancing the country's industrial might.
The great enthusiasm of the working masses and the scope of socialist emulation brought to the fore thousands upon thousands of heroes of labour ---shock-workers and Stakhanovites---who had mastered the new equipment and acquired a totally new attitude to work. The names of the first Stakhanovites in industry and transport--- A. G. Stakhanov (the initiator of the movement), A. Kh. Busygin, A. I. Gurgenidze, S. Djanbatyrov, N. A. Izotov, M. N. Mazai, S. G. Khachatryan, O. Khodjayev and many others---were known throughout the land. Their dedication to the cause of socialist construction is an example for Soviet people today, too, and their traditions are passed on by one generation of the working class to another.
Socialism could not be built solely on the basis of heavy industry; it was also necessary to reorganise the village along socialist lines. And in order to solve this exceptionally difficult task the Party had to help the peasants to get rid of their deeply-rooted private-ownership mentality and narrow-mindedness. In this respect they differed from the industrial workers who had no private means of production. A peasant with such an outlook had to be turned into an active participant in collective labour and social life. Coercive 174 measures, and Soviet power had no intention of using them, would have yielded no results. What had to be done was to make the peasant realise the need of making voluntary decisions which would benefit the whole of society and simultaneously further his own fundamental interests. Finally, it was necessary to crush the resistance of the kulaks, the last and the most numerous exploiting class.
It was Lenin who found the way to the solution of this immensely important economic and social problem. It lay through co-operation which under the dictatorship of the proletariat and the predominance of public ownership in the means of production could and did become an effective form of blending the personal interests of the peasant with those of the society as a whole, transforming small peasant households into large-scale socialist farms and drawing the peasants into the work of socialist construction.
In 1927, the Communist Party held its 15th Congress which voted for the collectivisation of agriculture. Like any other important undertaking, collectivisation did not run smoothly and precipitated a bitter struggle. The complex social situation in the countryside, namely, the stratification of the peasantry into poor and middle peasants and the kulaks and the lack of equipment and experience proved to be very serious obstacles. Moreover, there were subjective difficulties and errors, undue haste and attempts to forestall events, and also the fierce and, at times, bloody resistance of the kulaks. The bulk of the peasants were in favour of collectivisation, trusted the 175 Communist Party and followed its lead. Time showed that the Party's policy was correct and farsighted.
The establishment of the collective-farm system mirrored the radical social changes that had taken place in the way of life in the countryside and in the minds and psychology of millions of peasants. The Stakhanovite movement developed rapidly in agriculture where the examples set by its initiators P. N. Angelina, K. A. Borodin, M. V. Gnatenko, M. S. Demchenko, M. Y. Yefremov and F. Yunusov were taken up by the broad masses of peasants and state-farm workers.
The victory of the Leninist policy of industrialisation and collectivisation had a great sociopolitical impact. It resulted in the creation of the economic foundation of socialism in town and country, the establishment of a sound basis for the development of new social relations, enhanced the country's defensive capabilities and strengthened the moral and political unity of the whole Soviet people.
All this would have been impossible, however, if the Party had not vigorously launched the cultural revolution from the first days of the October Socialist Revolution. It should be borne in mind that in 1917 three-quarters of Russia's population were illiterate. And if the lag in this sphere had not been overcome, any headway in industry and agriculture would have been inconceivable. The All-Russia Extraordinary Committee for the Elimination of Illiteracy and the Down with Illiteracy society were set up in the country, and 176 the trade unions, the Komsomol, teachers, engineers, students and office employees took part in the drive for literacy.
The Communist Party's great efforts to promote higher education and enhance the role of science in socialist construction resulted in a rapid growth in the number of universities and institutes; the number of research workers increased to over 90,000 by the end of the Second Five-Year Plan, and the Academy of Sciences began to function fruitfully.
The elimination of illiteracy, the spread of public education, the appearance of a new intelligentsia, the development of science, literature and art, and the enhancement of the socialist consciousness of the masses, such were the main results of the Party's activity in the course of the cultural revolution.
The socialist revolution paved the way for the solution of the national question. Having smashed the "prison of peoples'', as bourgeois-landowner Russia was called, the October Revolution liberated all the nationalities inhabiting her. The economic and cultural ties of all the peoples strengthened in the course of peaceful socialist construction. In 1922, as we know, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a voluntary union of peoples welded in the struggle for common interests, was founded.
``The formation of the USSR,'' states the Resolution of the CC CPSU "On Preparations for the 50th Anniversary of the Formation of the USSR'', "occupies an outstanding place in the history of 177 the Soviet state. It was an event of immense political significance and equally far-reaching socioeconomic consequences. This historic event represented a convincing victory for the ideas of proletarian internationalism and was the fruitful result of the implementation of the Communist Party's Leninist nationalities policy. The formation of the Soviet Union was one of the decisive factors which ensured favourable conditions for the reconstruction of society on a socialist basis, for building up the economies and developing the culture of all Soviet republics, and for strengthening the defence might and the international standing of the multinational state of working people.''
The formation of the USSR was dictated by the objective course of historical development. "The struggle against the enemies of the Revolution and for the victory of socialism in our country,'' said Leonid Brezhnev, "required the closest unity of the peoples that had flung off the yoke of tsarism, the bourgeoisie and the landowners."^^*^^
On the basis of a searching scientific analysis Lenin showed that in order to survive in the face of world imperialism the Soviet republics had to form a tightly-knit union. He said that the preservation and strengthening of the union of socialist republics was a measure "necessary for us" and "for the world communist proletariat in its struggle against the world bourgeoisie and its defence against bourgeois intrigues".^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, p. 5.
^^**^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 36, p. 609.
__PRINTERS_P_177_COMMENT__ 12---2052 178Without a union of Soviet republics and their close economic co-operation it would have been impossible to rehabilitate the productive forces wrecked by imperialism, to create a single socialist economy regulated by a single plan, to secure a rational social division of labour and the effective utilisation of natural wealth to the benefit of all the peoples of the country.
Without a close union of Soviet republics it would have been impossible to achieve a steady improvement in the welfare of the working people and the all-round development and burgeoning of the culture of all nations and nationalities of the land.
The formation of the multinational socialist state was an outstanding result of the revolutionary effort of all the Soviet peoples headed by the working class and guided by the Communist Party. It was a result of the Party's theoretical and practical work and the multifold activity of the Soviet peoples and mirrored their aspirations.
All this enormous creative work carried on by the working class in alliance with the peasantry and in co-operation with the intelligentsia under the guidance of the Communist Party took place in complex conditions, political as well as economic.
The capitalist encirclement was pregnant with the threat of war. The situation worsened sharply when the fascists came to power in Italy and Germany and when the imperialist camp pushed them eastward, against the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union based its foreign policy on Lenin's ideas of the struggle for peace and 179 peaceful coexistence of countries with different social and economic systems. Lenin said that the Soviet state had to pursue a flexible foreign policy and take advantage of the conflicts and contradictions in the enemy's camp so as to safeguard the country against a fresh capitalist intervention. At the same time he considered essential in every way to support the revolutionary struggle of the working class and the anti-- imperialist national liberation movement, and enhance the country's defensive capacity.
The Communist Party and the working class steered the course towards socialist construction in the face of desperate resistance by ``Left''- and Right-wing opportunists and national-deviationists who strove to push the country off the Leninist path. The ideological and political rout of Trotskyism, which fostered mistrust for the working class of the USSR by asserting that the victory of the proletarian revolution in the West was an essential condition for the victory of socialism in the USSR, was a significant achievement. The Trotskyites wanted to deprive the Party and the Soviet people of the prospect of building socialism in the USSR and negated its significance for the world revolutionary movement. Using ``Left''-wing ultra-revolutionary phraseology as screen, they strove to impose an adventuristic course on the Party in order to doom the building of socialism in the USSR to failure and artificially to "spur on" revolutions in other countries. They demanded the introduction of anti-democratic, para-military methods of guiding the masses __PRINTERS_P_179_COMMENT__ 12* 180 inside the country and the rejection of the Leninist principle of democratic centralism.
At the same time the Party had to fight Rightwing opportunists who were against the rapid pace of industrialisation and opposed the collectivisation of agriculture and the elimination of the kulaks as a class. The Communist Party rebuffed the petty-bourgeois adventurism of the Trotskyites and the capitulatory tactics of the Right opportunists.
The abolition of the exploiting classes, industrialisation, collectivisation and the cultural revolution---these were the links of a single revolutionary process which basically altered the relations between classes and between nations in the country. A new social system based on the alliance between the working class, the collective-farm peasantry and the people's intelligentsia was formed, and by the end of the thirties the principles of socialism became firmly established in all spheres of social life.
On December 5, 1936, the Extraordinary Eighth Ail-Union Congress of Soviets adopted the Fundamental Law of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which reflected the fact that socialism had triumphed in the USSR. Since then December 5 has annually been observed throughout the country as Constitution Day.
What are the basic principles of socialism and the characteristic features of the new society?
181 __ALPHA_LVL2__ Principles of SocialismThe economic foundation of the new social system of which socialism is the initial stage is public ownership in the means of production. Under socialism there are no antagonistic classes consisting of people who own the means of production and those who sell their labour power to them. All people jointly own the means of production; at the same time each person is the master and the worker and all people have equal rights to public property.
There are two forms of public ownership in the Soviet Union. First, there is state property which includes the land and its mineral wealth, forests, waters, factories and state farms, railways and other transport facilities, and so forth.
Second, there is co-operative and collectivefarm property. Collective farms are established on land which belongs to the state but it is allotted to them for permanent use. Collective farmers jointly own tractors, combines and other farm machines, production and cultural and service premises, productive cattle, and, naturally, the products which they produce.
These two forms of ownership are matched by two types of socialist enterprises: state enterprises and collective farms, and also enterprises of producers' and consumers' co-operatives.
Historically co-operative and collective-farm ownership appeared as group ownership but in specific conditions---conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the domination of public 182 ownership in the means of production, including the land. Under the influence of these decisive factors co-operation and co-operative ownership acquired features fundamentally different from those characteristic of group ownership in the capitalist system of production. Collective farms have indivisible funds which form the backbone of all collective-farm property and are not subject to distribution. Collective farms sell their products at fixed prices in accordance with the plans which are handed down to them. It can be said, therefore, that collective farms constitute a part of the single planned system of the economy.
In addition to these two forms of public socialist property there is also personal property to which all members of Soviet society are entitled and which includes their earned incomes and savings, items of personal use and household articles and also houses and cattle owned by collective farmers and state-farm workers.
Sometimes personal property is erroneously identified with private property although these two forms of property have absolutely nothing in common with each other. Private property is engendered by the exploiting system and makes it possible to use and enslave the labour of others and exploit people for the purpose of enrichment. Personal property has a totally different social origin and its main source is personal labour.
Public ownership in the means of production determines the relations of people in the process of production, its purpose and the principles of distribution of the created product.
183Under socialism labour is a collective process which takes place in keeping with a single plan and is characterised by mutual assistance for the sake of the ever fuller satisfaction of the requirements of all members of society and the all-round development of the individual.
It is labour that makes the individual really great in socialist society which respects all those who work conscientiously in their chosen fields. To distinguish the best and to inspire others to follow their example, there have been instituted in the USSR the title of Hero of Socialist Labour, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Medal for Labour Valour, the Medal for Distinction in Labour and the Medal for Valiant Labour.
In capitalist society a person depends on his wealth and consequently on the power he wields.
Due to its very nature socialist society does not tolerate idlers and parasites, the human drones, for socialism and labour are indivisible. Its immutable law is "he who does not work, neither shall he eat''.
In socialist society there is no, nor can there be, unemployment. The state takes care of the needs of the working people: it improves their conditions of work, mechanises production processes, helps to raise their skill and promotes their welfare. And what is most important, socialism as befitting a judicious master conserves and multiplies socially useful labour.
Labour is the most important prerequisite for the development of any society, including 184 socialist, of course. Since without labour it is impossible to build the material and technical basis of the new society and satisfy the material and spiritual requirements of the people, Soviet society is vitally concerned with raising the labour productivity of each worker. Lenin regarded a steady growth of labour productivity as an essential condition for socialism's victory over capitalism. He explained that high labour productivity depends in the first place on the continuous introduction of science and technology into production, the mechanisation and electrification of production, correct organisation of labour and wages and the promotion of a socialist attitude to labour.
How is the jointly produced product distributed and what is the incentive to work in socialist society? These questions are connected with the principle of distribution according to work.
Inasmuch as public ownership in the means of production is characteristic of socialist society, it is society which is the owner of the created product. All that is produced in a year is called gross social product which the economists, after evaluating it in rubles, call gross output. Is the entire gross output channelled to satisfy human needs? Of course not. First of all it is necessary to compensate for the expended means of production, to return their value to production, for otherwise it will have to wind up, which, naturally, cannot be allowed to happen. What remains is the newly made product, or national income--- the foundation of .society's wealth.
185The following calculation shows how national income is formed. Let us assume that in a year's time the country produced 400,000 million rubles' worth of coal, steel, oil, machines, bread, meat, footwear, clothes and other material values. This will be the gross social product which can be expressed both in material (physical) and value (money) form. But this product did not appear all of a sudden, out of nothing. To produce it society expended raw and other materials, fuel, machines, tools, production premises, seeds and so on. Now, let us say that the volume of the expended means of production was worth 240,000 million rubles. And since national income is the gross social product minus the part that goes to replace the expended means of production it amounts in this case to 160,000 million rubles (400,000 million rubles minus 240,000 million rubles).
The volume and the rates of growth of national income directly depend on the level of labour productivity and on how the means of production are used. The better Soviet people work, the more economically they expend raw and other materials and the more rationally they use machines and other equipment, the bigger is the national income. And the bigger the national income the more means become available for satisfying the requirements of the state, industrial and other enterprises and citizens.
National income divides into the accumulation and the consumption fund. The first is used to expand production, construct industrial and other enterprises, houses, build cultural and welfare 186 facilities, set up state reserves, and so on. The second is used to satisfy the continuously rising material and spiritual requirements of Soviet people. A certain part of it makes up the social consumption funds which are jointly utilised by Soviet people, while the bulk of it is distributed among all working people according to their labour.
The principle of distribution is simple and clear: equal pay for equal work. Each person receives his share of the distributed portion of national income, depending on the quality and quantity of labour done, that is, according to his own contribution to the common effort. This principle will remain in force right up to the transition to communism, under which people will work according to their ability and receive according to their needs, whatever the results of their labour.
Distribution according to labour does not yet do away with economic inequality of the members of society. Equality consists in that all people may work and be remunerated according to their work. But people have different abilities and some have larger families than others. Consequently, some will be better off materially than others.
This, naturally, gives rise to the question: is it not possible to reject the principle of remuneration according to labour and change over to the distribution of material values regardless of how much or well a person works? No, and primarily because the level of the productive forces is not yet sufficient to create an abundance of material 187 values and to distribute them according to one's needs. On the other hand, labour has not yet become the vital necessity for all people and it may well happen that some would become idlers and use the wealth of society, while others would have to work for them. This would amount to a specific form of exploitation. Furthermore, members of socialist society have different skills, different experience and consequently work differently: some do complex jobs while the work of others is simple, requiring neither special knowledge, skill, nor extensive experience. Let us assume that a skilled worker and a novice were paid equal wages for their labour. If everyone is remunerated equally, why then study, work better and produce more? It is easy to see that this would inevitably lead to a decline in qualified labour, stagnation and even winding up of production. Hence, equal distribution in these conditions would inhibit social progress and is therefore unacceptable for socialist society.
Under socialism the state controls the measure of labour and the measure of consumption, and its system of wages makes a worker interested in the results of his work, encourages him to improve his skill, work better and more productively. This benefits society---which receives more from each of its members, and the worker himself---who receives more for his labour.
The Communist Party and the Soviet Government are seeking consistently to apply the principle of remuneration according to work and improve the forms of remuneration. An increase 188 in pay for work depends directly on a rise in labour productivity, on the extent to which a worker participates in the development of production. A wage must be earned in the full sense of the word. A flexible system of remuneration is being introduced which makes it possible promptly to reward the worker for his initiative and with the help of corresponding stimuli encourage industrial, office and other workers to develop their initiative. The system of rating wages has to be simple and clear so that each factory and office worker easily discerns the connection between labour productivity and wages. The economic reform currently under way in the USSR creates conditions for considerably heightening the material interest of industrial and office workers in the economic results of their enterprise's activity. We shall return to this later in the book.
Wages are the main form of remunerating the labour of industrial and office workers in the USSR. As regards the work of collective farmers it was until recently assessed and remunerated somewhat differently---according to work-day units. After deduction of the share of the product to the indivisible and other public funds and payments to the state, the remaining portion of the jointly produced agricultural output was divided by the number of work-day units.
This system, however, did not guarantee steady earnings, and so the CC CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers in their Resolution "On Enhancing the Material Interest of Collective 189 Farmers in Developing Social Production" recommended the collective farmers to change to a guaranteed remuneration of labour. This has been accomplished in the main. The collectively created product, naturally, is still the foundation for guaranteed remuneration, the only difference being that the money for remunerating labour is set aside not in the last but in the first place.
The role played by material incentives to labour is very great indeed, but Soviet workers, collective farmers and intellectuals are motivated by vast moral forces---their high political awareness, ardent Soviet patriotism and the desire to see their land still more powerful and prosperous. We shall discuss the substance and the role played by moral stimuli at the present stage of social development in subsequent chapters.
The political foundation of Soviet socialist society is the alliance of the working class and the peasantry; the political form which embodies this alliance are the Soviets of Working People's Deputies.
The principal weapon with which the working people of the USSR destroyed the old political system, suppressed the resistance of the exploiting classes and decisively altered the destiny of their country was the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The political power of the working class led by its vanguard---the Communist Party--- is the main condition for the building of socialist society.
And when the exploiting classes had been liquidated and the victory of socialism resulted 190 in the inviolable ideological and political unity of society, the Soviet state which arose as the dictatorship of the proletariat, became the state of the whole people, the political organisation of the people in which the leading role is played by the working class.
``If the creative enthusiasm of the revolutionary classes had not given rise to the Soviets,'' Lenin wrote, "the proletarian revolution in Russia would have been a hopeless cause... ."^^*^^
Led by the Communist Party the Soviets are genuinely people's organs of power. The whole people elects the Soviets, and it is its best representatives that sit on them; the Soviets conduct their activity with the support and in the interests of the people.
The social and national composition of the Soviets attest to their genuinely democratic and representative character. Let us glance at the higher organ of power, the USSR Supreme Soviet elected on June 16, 1974. In its present composition it has 1,517 deputies; 767 of them are in the Soviet of the Union and 750 in the Soviet of Nationalities. Among the deputies are 498 workers (32.8 per cent) and 271 collective farmers (17.9 per cent). In all, there are 769 workers and collective farmers (50.7 per cent) in both Soviets.
From top to bottom state affairs are managed today by more than 2,000,000 deputies with the assistance of 25,000,000 activists.
Nothing of the sort exists in capitalist countries _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 104.
191 where power is wielded by the exploiting classes which keep the working people away from state affairs. What is the social composition of bourgeois parliaments? The current US Congress, for instance, includes more than 200 bankers, businessmen and wealthy landowners and not a single worker. The situation is approximately the same in the representative bodies in other bourgeois states.The Soviets are the organs of socialist democracy. The word ``democracy'' means government by the people. According to Marxism-Leninism, democracy is of a class nature. There is no freedom in general just as there is no democracy in general. The Soviet Union is the first country in the world where democracy corresponding to the interests of all working people emerged and became firmly established. Born of the great revolution, Soviet power is the government by the people and for the people.
The democratic character of Soviet society finds expression in the political rights and freedoms of Soviet citizens.
All citizens of the USSR who have reached the age of 18 have the right to elect and be elected to organs of Soviet power irrespective of property status, race or nationality, sex, religion, education, domicile, social origin, or past activity.
Elections in the USSR are equal. This means that every Soviet citizen has one vote; women enjoy the right to elect and to be elected on equal terms with men.
Elections of deputies are direct. The
__PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__
192
COMPOSITION OF THE LOCAL SOVIETS
(percent)
Industrial workers and
collective farmers
White-collar workers
193
__PARAGRAPH_CONT__
Constitution of the USSR states that all Soviets of
Working People's Deputies, from the rural and town
Soviets to the USSR Supreme Soviet, shall be
elected by citizens by direct vote. In other words,
all Soviet electors directly participate in the
elections to all representative bodies.
All deputies are elected by secret ballot. This means that a voter may cast his ballot in a booth all by himself so that how and for whom he voted remains a secret.
Elections in capitalist states have a totally different character. "If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy,'' Lenin wrote, "we see everywhere, in the `petty'---- supposedly petty---details of the suffrage (residential qualification, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for `paupers'!), in the purely capitalist organisation of the daily press, etc., etc.---we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been in close contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of ten, if not ninety-nine out of a hundred, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy."^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25, pp. 460--61.
__PRINTERS_P_193_COMMENT__ 13---2052 194Let us take the United States of America, for example. Its electoral system has set a record of sorts for the number of various electoral qualifications. Here are some of them.
Property status, according to which people lacking the required property qualifications are barred from voting, is still in force in some states. In others, poor people living in state-operated or private charity homes are deleted from election lists. Still others have requirements of residence which prohibit people from voting if they have lived a shorter period in the given area than required by the Election Act. This enables the authorities to exclude seasonal workers and the unemployed roaming the country in search of jobs from the election lists.
In most US states only people who have reached the age of 21 have the right to vote; this means that a considerable portion of young people is deprived of franchise.
There are also many other obstacles and requirements which in fact deprive millions of working people of the right to vote. US legislative bodies demand that an elector should be able to read and correctly interpret the Constitution. In California a voter must be able to sign his name; in the state of New York he must fill out a questionnaire, and in Alabama he must be able to read, write and interpret any article of the Constitution in English. Similar election requirements exist in other states.
Convincing proof of the broad democratic rights exercised by Soviet people is their steadily 195 mounting political activity and interest in state affairs. This is manifested, in particular, in the activity of the electorate. The following figures illustrate this point. In June 1974, 99.98 per cent of the voters took part in the elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet. In 1969, more than 95 per cent of the local Soviets reported back on their work to the electorate; 37.4 million people attended 207,384 meetings at which Executive Committees made their reports.
A characteristic feature of the Soviet socialist society are the broad political freedoms enjoyed by Soviet citizens, namely, freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and rallies, street processions and demonstrations. The working people in capitalist states can only dream of the rights which the Constitution of the USSR, the country's fundamental law, grants Soviet citizens.
The Soviet state grants all people the right to work. In other words, all Soviet citizens have the right to guaranteed employment and payment for their work in accordance with its quantity and quality. This is one of the greatest gains of the Soviet people who unlike millions of working people in the capitalist countries have no cause to worry about the future. The last labour exchange in the USSR ceased functioning in 1929. Alongside the right to work, the Soviet state grants all working people the right to rest. This right, as all the others, is ensured by a wide range of state measures including a fixed working day, paid holidays, a large number of sanatoriums, holiday homes, clubs, theatres, libraries and parks.
__PRINTERS_P_195_COMMENT__ 13* 196Soviet citizens have the right to maintenance in old age and also in the event of sickness or disability. The state ensures this right by extensively developing the social security and pension systems and free medical service.
The Soviet state grants all citizens the right to education. This means that the children of workers, collective farmers and the intelligentsia can enter any school, college, university or any other educational institution they want and study there free of charge.
There is genuine national equality in the USSR. The Soviet state steadfastly promotes the economic, cultural and political development of all nationalities. Any restriction of rights, the establishment of privileges on the grounds of race or nationality and any advocacy of racial or national exclusiveness is punishable by law.
Socialism has essentially altered the status of women; the socialist state has created all conditions for encouraging their cultural growth and all-round development; Soviet women have equal rights with men in work, remuneration, rest, social security, education, and so forth.
Women in the USSR have broad opportunities for creative activity; they have mastered numerous occupations which formerly were out of their reach, and are actively participating in managing state affairs.
Granting broad democratic rights and freedoms to its members, Soviet society also imposes important duties on them. These rights and duties are closely interconnected and interdependent. It 197 cannot be otherwise in a state where the welfare of an individual depends on the prosperity of the entire people, while the fulfilment by all citizens of their basic duties ensures the development of the socialist society and the state system.
Another characteristic feature of the rights and duties proclaimed in the Constitution of the USSR is that they apply to all Soviet citizens in equal measure. It cannot come to pass in socialist society, as is the case in an exploiting society, that some citizens would be accorded only rights and freedoms, while others would have only duties to fulfil.
What are the duties which society imposes on Soviet citizens?
One of the basic duties of Soviet citizens is to work for the benefit of society and maintain labour discipline. The Constitution of the USSR states: "Work in the USSR is a duty and a matter of honour for every able-bodied citizen. .. .'' By applying the principle "he who does not work, neither shall he eat" Soviet society proclaims war on idlers and shirkers, on people parasitic upon the labour of others.
It is also the duty of all citizens of the USSR to safeguard and consolidate socialist property and since this property belongs to the whole people it is sacred and inviolable. Those who plunder public property weaken the might of the state, wittingly or unwittingly.
The Constitution of the USSR proclaims that, defence of the country is the sacred duty of all citizens and they fulfil this duty with honour.
198Soviet workers, peasants and intellectuals are welded together by communist ideology and a profound community of interests, views and aims. These relations of friendly, fraternal co-operation took shape, matured and strengthened in the course of socialist construction, in the course of the struggle for the country's industrialisation and collectivisation of agriculture and the accomplishment of the cultural revolution. It is these relations that constitute the foundation of their sociopolitical and ideological unity.
The highest expression of the moral and political unity of Soviet society is the fact that the Soviet people are closely rallied around the Communist Party. They know that the Party has no interests other than those of the people and wholeheartedly support all its undertakings, and its policy, regarding it as being correct, sciencebased and fully in line with their interests. Without the close unity of the Communists and the broad masses of the working people there would have been no victory of the Revolution in 1917, no rout of the interventionists and internal counter-revolution in the civil war, no industrialisation of the country and no collectivisation of agriculture. Without this unity of the Party and the people, the Soviet people would have been unable to smash fascism in the Great Patriotic War of 1941--1945, build socialism and launch communist construction.
Having completed the building of the edifice of socialism by the end of the thirties, the Soviet people had great plans for the future and dreamed 199 of making another stride forward. In 1939, at its 18th Congress, the Communist Party outlined the first steps in the transition to the next phase, namely, the building of communist society. But the Soviet Union's gains gave no peace to those who had dreamed of crushing the revolution when it was still in its cradle; imperialism would not concede defeat. War broke out. In its course the Soviet people underwent the grimmest test in its history.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The Exploit of the Soviet PeopleOn June 22, 1941, nazi Germany wantonly, without a declaration of war and in violation of the non-aggression treaty attacked the USSR. A battle unprecedented both in scope and scale unfolded between the striking force of imperialism and the world's first socialist power.
The Communist Party anticipated the possibility of a military clash with imperialism and was preparing the country and the people for defence. The Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War was ensured by the socio-economic gains achieved in the course of the first five-year plan periods, by the ideological and political unity of Soviet society forged in the course of socialist construction.
Drunk with his lust for world domination, the enemy was treacherous, well armed and powerful, having the wealth of practically the whole of Europe at his disposal. But the Soviet people defeated 200 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/FPS559/20071205/299.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.12.05) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ him because they confronted him not only with their military-industrial might, but also with their revolutionary, humane ideology. Nazism came up against a free nation united by the conscious discipline of like-minded people and lofty social ideals. The Communist Party inspired them to fight for the socialist cause, for their land, and organised a powerful front and a reliable rear. The whole country turned into a military camp.
A State Defence Committee headed by Stalin was set up for the purpose of speedily mobilising the country's forces to resist and smash the enemy. All power in the country, all military, administrative and economic leadership, was vested in this extraordinary body.
It was incredibly difficult at the front and in the rear. The heroism of the people acquired a mass character.
Can all of us imagine today what it meant for four long years to go into attack under a hail of bullets, to soak and freeze in the trenches, to live in partisan camps and strike the enemy from forests and marshes?
Can all of us imagine today how courageous a person had to be and what he thought when he blocked the gun-port of an enemy pillbox with his body to save the lives of his comrades, as did Private Alexander Matrosov and hundreds of others after him? Can all of us imagine today what it meant to ram an enemy aircraft in the air as did Victor Talalikhin and then hundreds of other pilots who followed his example? Can all of us imagine today what great faith one had to 201 have in the cause of the people and its ultimate victory to endure inhuman tortures and to die without betraying one's comrades and with proudly raised heads as did the partisans Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Liza Chaikina and members of the underground Komsomol organisation, the Young Guard, which operated on temporarily occupied Soviet territory?
Soviet young people and their vanguard, the Leninist Komsomol, displayed courage and heroism in defending their socialist homeland. Soviet people will always cherish the names of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Liza Chaikina, Oleg Koshevoi, Alexander Chekalin, Parfenty Grechany, Dasha Dyachenko, Vladimir Morgunenko, Frosya Zenkova, Zinaida Portnova, Manshuk Mametova, Maryte Melnykaite, Alexei Shumavtsov and many, many others whose deeds are immortal. One of the most important factors of our victory was the inviolable friendship of the Soviet peoples.
``The union and friendship of all its [the USSR's---Ed.] nations and nationalities,'' said Leonid Brezhnev in his report "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics'', "have stood the severe trials of the Great Patriotic War, in the course of which the sons and daughters of the same Soviet Motherland did not only succeed in safeguarding with honour their socialist gains, but also saved world civilisation from the barbarity of fascism, thereby lending powerful support to the peoples' liberation struggle.''
202Things were unbelievably difficult on the homefront. People did not get enough sleep and food; wives replaced their husbands in factories and worked unheedful of time, and juveniles replaced their fathers and brothers who had gone to the front. Not for a moment did work stop at factories. At times people worked even during air raids, supplying the Soviet Army with increasing quantities of the most up-to-date weapons. Beginning with 1943 the Soviet Union began producing more and better equipment and weapons than Germany. In spite of the extreme shortage of manpower and machinery and the damage caused by the war, collective and state farms supplied the country with the grain she needed for victory.
The heroic defence of the Brest Fortress, the great battles of Odessa and Sevastopol, at the approaches to Moscow, at the walls of Leningrad and Stalingrad, at Novorossiisk, in the Orel-Kursk salient, on the Dnieper and the Vistula have gone down in history as examples of the military art and valour, of courage and heroism not only of the military, but also of the civilian population. The Communist Party inspired and organised the victory over the nazi invaders. It was a genuinely fighting party. The Communists were in the forefront of the people's struggle against fascism, setting examples of endurance, courage and fortitude. About two million Communists were killed in action.
Fascism was smashed. Nazi Germany surrendered, and the world which lived under the threat of the most merciless bondage imaginable and 203 even complete annihilation of whole peoples breathed with relief and joy. The road to freedom, national independence and social progress was now open to many peoples and countries.
A large number of nations contributed to the victory over fascism. But the greatest burden was shouldered by the Soviet Union which did more than any other country to save the world from Hitlerism. The role played by the Soviet people in the victory in the Second World War is beyond compare. Their heroic exploit once again showed the world that there were no forces which could have defeated a free people and overturn its socialist social system.
Fulfilling its allied commitment, the USSR on August 8, 1945, declared war on Japan. The Soviet Army dealt a shattering blow on the Japanese Armed Forces and on September 2, 1945, Japan signed the instrument of unconditional surrender. The Second World War was over.
Each year on May 9, the Soviet Union pays tribute to its war dead by observing a minute of silence, a minute in the course of which people recall 1,418 fighting days and nights, the sorrow of irretrievable losses and the joy of victory.
The Soviet people revere the memory of their sons and daughters who died in the fighting at Moscow, the Brest Fortress, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kiev, Sevastopol, Odessa, Warsaw, Belgrade, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Vienna, Berlin, on nameless heights and river crossings, on the difficult roads of war and partisan trails.
204The Unknown Soldier in whose memory the eternal flame burns at the Kremlin Wall symbolises the reverence which the bereaved mother has for her fallen son, the wife for her husband, the sister for her brother, the grandson for his grandfather.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a shrine honoured by the whole multinational Soviet people.
Their grateful memory will for ever retain the exploit of those who had fought in the Great Patriotic War, of all those who stood their ground in the terrible hour of danger and sacrificed everything for their homeland, for the sake of happiness and life in the world.
Expressing their admiration for the great exploit of millions of their countrymen and boundless respect for those who fell in the battle for the freedom and independence of their socialist homeland, Soviet people manifest their readiness at any moment to rise to defend the gains of the October Socialist Revolution, and by their labour to multiply the country's might.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ Further ProgressSome circles in the imperialist camp reckoned that the USSR would be unable to heal its war wounds unassisted and would consequently fall into dependence on the capitalist states. But these calculations, too, went awry.
The USSR suffered incalculable losses and destruction in the war. To this day Soviet people 205 mourn the death of their near and dear ones. No loss is heavier than the death of relatives and friends. No sight is more distressing than that of destroyed fruits of labour into which a person had put his strength and talent and perhaps even his whole life. No smell is more acrid than that of smouldering ruins. Returning from the front the Soviet soldiers saw their land in ruins, tortured by flames and metal. The joy of victory and a bitter feeling of loss mingled in the hearts of all people.
They realised that there could be no better monument to those who died in the war than rehabilitated factories, blossoming fields and a happy life of their children, brothers, friends. So once again Soviet people rolled up their sleeves to clear the debris and build whole cities anew.
Those years abound in examples of labour heroism. In 1948 the Soviet Union had in the main attained the pre-war level of production in industry and in 1950 in agriculture. A few years later, having completely healed the war wounds, the Soviet people created conditions for further progress.
The harnessing of atomic energy was an outstanding achievement of Soviet science and technology. In those years industrial development in the USSR was characterised by the introduction of advanced technology and production lines, accelerated development of the power industry, engineering and the chemical industry, the rise of electronics and radio electronics and other new branches, and the complex mechanisation and automation of production.
206The CPSU took the necessary steps to accelerate the growth of agricultural production. This was a very difficult task because of the damage caused by the war, and a major achievement in this direction was the development of virgin lands in the eastern regions of the country.
Thanks to the increase in material production it became possible to carry through many measures to improve the welfare of the people.
The 20th GPSU Congress (February 1956) made a comprehensive analysis of the Soviet Union's international and domestic situation, summed up the results of the Party's activities since the 19th Congress and outlined the prospects of communist construction.
It discussed the question of overcoming the Stalin personality cult and eliminating its consequences and adopted a resolution approving the Central Committee's great efforts to restore the Leninist standards of Party life and promote inner-Party democracy. The Congress called for the maximum promotion of socialist democracy, persistent efforts to improve the work of all governmental organisations, central and local, and strengthen their ties with the masses.
The Soviet Union confidently moved towards new achievements in communist construction.
Now side by side with it advanced other countries which were building socialist society. The formation of the mighty socialist camp was a great victory of the international working class, of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.
207 __ALPHA_LVL2__ The International SignificanceUnderscoring the international significance of the revolutionary changes in the Soviet Union, Lenin said that this experience would never be forgotten. "It has gone down in history,'' he wrote, "as socialism's gain, and on it the future world revolution will erect its socialist edifice."^^*^^
Life itself has proved the correctness of this conclusion. It was in the USSR that the characteristic features and general regularities of socialist construction have first manifested themselves. Now they are creatively being applied in countries which are building socialism, and are consequently of international significance.
What are the principal lessons to be drawn from the struggle of the CPSU and the Soviet people for the victory of socialism?
The experience of the USSR has demonstrated that the transition from capitalism to socialism can take place only as a result of socialist revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Despite the assertions of revisionists and reformists, socialism cannot peacefully grow out of capitalism. It can be victorious only if the working class in alliance with all working people overthrows the capitalist system and wins political power.
The experience of the USSR has confirmed the exceptional importance of the Marxist-Leninist _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 413.
208 conclusion regarding the necessity of abolishing private property and establishing public ownership in the means of production. Only public ownership in the means of production does away with production anarchy and opens the way for a planned and uninterrupted development of the economy on the basis of scientific and technological progress. Socialism alters the very purpose of social production: exploitation and oppression give way to co-operation and mutual assistance between the friendly classes, and this opens up broad opportunities for improving the well-being of the working people, and promoting science, culture and art.The experience of the USSR has confirmed that only the socialist reorganisation of agriculture can rid the peasant masses of poverty and want and ensure their prosperity and cultural development. The transition of small peasant households to the road of establishing large-scale socialised agriculture is a vital necessity, a historical regularity of social development.
The experience of the USSR shows that socialist construction encounters the bitter resistance of the overthrown exploiting classes and that international imperialism vigorously supports the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie inside the country. Defence of socialism against the counterrevolutionary forces is the primary duty of the workers' and peasants' state. Any revolution, Lenin used to say, is worth something only if it can defend itself.
The experience of the USSR shows that only a 209 victorious socialist revolution puts an end to all national oppression and creates conditions for a voluntary, fraternal union of nations and nationalities into a single state.
The experience of the USSR shows that socialism can be built only under the leadership of the Marxist-Leninist Party. Armed with Marxist-Leninist theory, the Communist Party defines the principal trends and tasks of socialist construction and formulates and carries through a scientifically-based domestic and foreign policy. The Party guides the entire economic, socio-- political and spiritual life of society.
The historical experience of the USSR and other countries of the socialist system has demonstrated that enhancement of the organising activity of the Marxist-Leninist Party is an essential factor of successful socialist construction, an earnest of further progress on the road to communism.
[210] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER IV __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE MAIN FEATURESIn order to reach his destination, to steer a correct course, a seafarer has to know his exact position at any given moment, the strength of the current, the direction of the wind and other conditions in which he has to act. Thanks to his knowledge of the laws of nature, for instance, of the laws governing the movement of the celestial bodies, he orientates himself in space and time and uses navigational instruments to chart his course.
In the ocean of social life people also have to take their bearings, comprehend the specific features of their time and ascertain the trends of social development, in order to be able to act consciously and promote social progress.
At times it is more difficult to cognise the present than the past. Looking closely at an oil painting we see only dabs of various colours, meaningless and chaotic. But let us move back a few steps and the painting stands out in complete detail. In the same way the picture of life is easier 211 understood if we move from it somewhat, not in space, however, but in time.
We have, however, to foresee the future on the basis of our knowledge of the past. And this is very important. Is this possible, have we the necessary instruments? Yes, we have.
Applying its knowledge of the laws of social development and using the instruments of scientific analysis, the Communist Party continuously investigates social processes and on this basis maps out its policy and orientates the Soviet people in their advance towards ever new achievements in communist construction. The 24th CPSU Congress formulated its decisions on the basis of a far-reaching scientific analysis of the present stage of social development. In its Report to the 24th Congress the CPSU Central Committee characterised the present day as a period of developed socialism.
What are the main features of this stage? In what way does it differ from the latter half of the thirties when socialism had already been built in the USSR?
As regards the substance of the socialist system, there are no distinctions: public ownership of the means of production was predominant then and it is predominant now; socialist principles governed all spheres of human relations then and they do so now. Today, just as in the late thirties, there is no exploitation of man by man. But by comparing the present day and what has been recorded in the documentary films of the thirties we shall see what great changes have occurred __PRINTERS_P_211_COMMENT__ 14* 212 even in the very appearance of the country, its factories and fields, city streets and villages, and simply in the style of clothes and the furnishings of apartments. Of course, the main distinction is not that the inconspicuous ANT-25 on which Valery Chkalov and his crew flew through the North Pole to America has been replaced by the mighty Antaeus capable of carrying 800 passengers, or the supersonic TU-144, or that even the Gorky Automobile Factory, once the pride of the country, seems different in comparison with the giant Volga Motor Works which manufactures Lada cars. Take a closer look at what is behind the external changes and you will see that the difference between the two periods of socialism is evidenced both in the productive forces, in social relations and in man himself. And these are not simply quantitative, but also profound qualitative changes.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ New Opportunities in the EconomyThe 24th CPSU Congress focussed its attention in the first place on the new magnitude of the country's economy, on its new opportunities and on the demands which society makes of it.
The Soviet people have created a powerful industry, socialist agriculture and advanced science. The USSR daily produces a social product worth nearly 2,000 million rubles (i.e., the entire output of industry, collective and state farms in 213 terms of value), or ten times more than at the end of the thirties. In 1950 Soviet industrial output was less than 30 per cent of that of the United States, the most powerful capitalist state, whereas in 1970 it was over 75 per cent. The gap is shrinking steadily and by the end of the five-year plan for 1971--1975 the Soviet Union's aggregate industrial and agricultural output will surpass the contemporary level of production in the USA. This will be a very important milestone in the economic competition between socialism and capitalism.
Let us take a look at the economic progress made by the entire socialist camp. In 1970, the volume of industrial production of the socialist states was approximately 13 times higher than it was on the same territory in 1937. It should be noted that in the capitalist countries production in this period increased 4.5 times.
The new level of the Soviet national economy is characterised by the following figures: compared with the thirties steel output increased almost six times, electricity approximately 12 times, oil and gas dozens of times. Clearly the Soviet Union has every opportunity to solve a wider range of problems than it had ever tackled before, those which it could only dream of in the thirties.
Economic growth is accompanied by increasing social demands on the economy. Further on we shall dwell on the changes and development of human requirements. In the meantime let us note that the wealthier the society, the more diverse and complex are the requirements of its members. 214 A hungry person dreams only of something to eat and a naked person wants warm clothes, but a person who is neither hungry nor cold cares about his tastes; he will follow the fashion and take the opinions of other people into consideration. He buys only what he wants and not simply anything that is offered in shops. And this fact has to be taken into account, although it is becoming more and more difficult, in planning new factories, to keep up with the demands and tastes of people.
The 24th CPSU Congress noted that while surging ahead in some spheres of production, even in the very important ones, the Soviet Union cannot let others lag behind. While channelling enormous funds into the development of production, science and education, the USSR has also to concentrate greater efforts and means on raising the welfare of the Soviet people. This is what the Congress meant when it discussed the need and the possibility of dealing with a wider range of problems in the period of developed socialism. Explaining the substance of the shift in the economic policy, Leonid Brezhnev said: "The central task today is to effect a radical change of orientation, to switch the accent to intensive methods of economic management and thereby achieve a considerable rise of efficiency in the economy. The thing here is that economic growth should be increasingly fostered by an enhancement of labour productivity and an acceleration of scientific and technological progress, by the fuller utilisation of operating production capacities, by increasing the return on 215 every ruble invested in the economy, on every ton of utilised metal, fuel, cement and fertiliser."^^*^^ That was how the problem was set forth in the decisions of the 24th CPSU Congress and the December (1972) Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee and also in the materials of the joint meeting marking the 50th anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Scientific and TechnologicalThe specific features of development of the Soviet Union at the present stage are largely determined by the scientific and technological revolution.
The scientific and technological revolution has several basic trends. One of them is the development of new sources of energy---atomic and thermonuclear. It is common knowledge that the Soviet Union has a fairly large number of big atomic power stations; it has the world's largest nuclear-powered icebreakers Lenin and Arktika and atomic submarines.
Another trend is man's penetration and exploration of outer space. This great process was inaugurated by the Soviet Union which launched the first artificial satellite of the earth and orbited the first manned spaceship with Yuri Gagarin on board.
_-_-_^^*^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, p. 72.
216The third trend is the development and introduction of a new technology, more efficient than the ordinary mechanical processing of materials. It no longer simply alters the form of a substance but transforms its molecular and atomic structure and changes one substance into another. This takes place in the production of polymers and various plastic materials.
Modern production imperatively demands raw materials with technical and physical properties different from those of natural materials. Plastics and chemical fibres may have preset properties such as increased strength, resistance to heat and oxidation. The following example illustrates the merits of synthetic materials: fibre-glass impregnated with a special resin is almost as durable as steel, 66 per cent lighter and does not rust.
Finally, the scientific and technological revolution is to reorganise production as a whole on the basis of automation. Therein lies the main trend of it because without automation there can be no talk about the development of atomic energy, space exploration and the transition to new technologies, for, as a rule, they exclude man's direct participation in the production process. Here is an example.
The chemical processes occurring during the production of, say, plastics simply cannot be manually controlled because the slightest inaccuracy in temperature or pressure may easily lead to undesirable changes in the properties of materials. In many other industries, too, improvements in machinery and technologies come into 217 conflict with the limited abilities of the human organism. A lathe or milling machine operator, for example, sets the machine in motion, stops it, fixes and removes parts and devices. This means that the operation of the machine depends on the speed of his movements and reaction, on his strength and endurance, all of which have their limits. It follows, therefore, that the very development of production raises the problem of freeing man from direct participation in the labour process and giving latitude for the further development of technology. This objective process coincides with the humanistic ideals of Soviet society, with its desire to free man from arduous work and provide conditions for his creative work and all-round development.
Automatic machines which control the entire labour process appeared in response to the demands of life itself. Machines of the old, classic type consist of three units: motor, transmission and tools which directly process the objects of labour. Automatic machines have a fourth, selfregulating unit which controls the machine, thus dispensing with the functions formerly performed by a worker. Scientists, designers and industrial workers have created not only separate machines, but automatic lines consisting of a number of machines performing not one but many operations. Moreover, there are now automatic shops and even whole factories. Automatic interplanetary stations are being used in space exploration.
Thus man's role in production is undergoing a radical change. He ceases to be a direct link in 218 the labour process, but watches this process in the capacity of controller and regulator. Such, for instance, is the job of a specialist who watches the conversion of resins into a plastic or chemical fibre, or the job of an operator in a hothouse where watering, spray nutrition, temperature and humidity are automatically regulated.
The fundamental modification of man's role in the production process is the principal content, the quintessence of the scientific and technological revolution. Obviously, this change can only take place on the basis of the latest scientific achievements, when science directly participates in production, when the labour of scientists and workers merges into a single whole.
Examining man's position in the system of production we discern a peculiar spiral.
Let us begin with the mediaeval guildsman. His craft bordered on art, and his skill, work habits, taste and proficiency determined the quantity and quality of his articles whose beauty we all admire to this day. Very often he proudly affixed his signature to them. Now let us take a look at Charlie Chaplin's hero in the film Modern Times. From the beginning to the end of the working day he performed a single movement with his arms as he tightened bolts on the conveyor, which moved faster and faster because the proprietor was after greater profits. Eventually the worker began to imagine that there were bolts instead of buttons on a girl's dress and even thought that the foreman has a bolt instead of his nose. Such labour stupefies and cripples a worker and turns 219 him into a human machine. The number of mental cases among the workers of the famous Konosuke Matsushita electronics empire rises in direct proportion to the growing speed of the conveyor. Here man is an appendage to the machine and is replaced just as a worn-out machine part is replaced. Yet it should be noted that here a specific role is played not only by the character of labour but also by the organisation of society, a question which will be discussed further on in the book.
Finally, let us take a look at a worker at a modern automated enterprise. His job is that of a programmer, adjuster, technologist, designing engineer and even researcher. As modern technology advances from semi-automatic machines to complete automation of production it becomes increasingly his task to set assignments to electronic equipment, adopt controlling decisions with the help of computers and renew equipment and processes. The decisive role in material production gradually passes from man's muscle power to his ability to solve complicated creative problems. This requires diversified technical and scientific knowledge and that is why foremost Soviet workers enter vocational schools and institutes, or keep abreast of the developments in their given occupation by reading the necessary literature.
Clearly the development of production depends in increasing measure on man's knowledge and skill, just as was the case with the mediaeval craftsman but only at a totally different level of development of the productive forces. It is hardly 220 worth mentioning that the production section entrusted to a worker expands all the time; it needs more means of production and consequently the responsibility for its economic results rises. For example, to break a spade is not the same thing as to damage an excavator, and to damage an excavator is not the same thing as to damage a production line. Even the briefest stoppage of a sophisticated machine leads to considerable losses. And in this connection one can easily imagine what an important role man will have to play in agricultural production, too.
Consequently production itself makes ever greater demands of a modern worker, such as a higher level of knowledge, greater interest in his work and higher responsibility.
And since man's role in production and his attitude to work change in the course of the scientific and technological revolution, the very structure of society, the socio-economic conditions come to play an increasing part in its further progress. The question of man's position in society ---that of man who sells his labour power and is deprived of all rights, or that of master of production---is acquiring ever greater importance for the development of production; for the working man this question is of vital significance.
Scientific and technological progress and social progress go side by side in Soviet society, determining and even assisting each other. Taking this into account, the 24th CPSU Congress put on record: "The task we face ... is one of historical importance: organically to fuse the achievements 221 of the scientific and technical revolution with the advantages of the socialist economic system....''
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Changes in the Relations of ProductionAny social phenomenon, according to the founders of Marxism-Leninism, should be viewed from class positions. This means that in economics it is necessary in the first place to ascertain who, i.e., what class, owns the means of production, and in politics who is in power. Public ownership in the means of production is the basis of production relations under socialism. This is characteristic of all stages of socialism, including communism, its highest phase. The principle of distribution according to labour operates during the first phase, including developed socialism. But relations of production do not remain unchanged, and socialist society, as Engels noted in one of his letters, is not something that is petrified or immutable, but should be regarded as being subject to continuous changes and transformations. Analysing the processes occurring in production and society, the CPSU consciously takes measures to adapt the relations of production as best as possible to the level of development of the productive forces.
At the present stage it is most important skilfully to combine centralised planning with the independent, creative activity of each Soviet industrial enterprise. There was a time when all planned targets, from the volume of production to its organisation in individual sectors, were handed down to the enterprise. The product 222 still to be produced was already earmarked and the consumer could not refuse it, being, in effect, deprived of the right to choose. This was dictated by internal and external conditions, and even more by the situation in the war years when the country's central bodies kept strict count of every kilogramme of metal and coal, and consumer goods were rationed. But the more intricate the economy, the more affluent the society and the wider the range of commodities available to the consumer, the more important it becomes to grant an industrial enterprise the opportunity to display greater initiative in production matters. It is no longer possible to hand down production and sales plans listing millions of different commodities---their sort, size, fashion---to all enterprises in the country. USSR central planning agencies only set the indicators for key items. For example, they plan the amount of footwear or fabrics to be produced in the coming year, but the question of the fashions and sizes of the footwear and the colour and pattern of the fabrics is decided by the factories and their customers---trading organisations. To a certain extent this principle is applied in the production of the means of production, the instruments of labour. Industrial development puts forward ever new demands some of which are difficult to predict and this, too, calls for flexible correction of plans.
It is important that each industrial enterprise should produce articles really needed by the consumer---whether an individual buyer or a factory ---in adequate quantities and of the highest 223 quality. Therefore, at present it is essential that all enterprises should establish direct contacts with their suppliers and consumers. These contacts are taken into account and modified if necessary by managers and planning agencies.
The successful fulfilment of the new tasks facing the enterprises has an impact on value indicators, such as the aggregate sum of realised products, profitability. These indicators play a steadily increasing role in assessing the work of an enterprise. The economic reform launched in the USSR in 1965 on the CPSU's initiative makes the level of income and the welfare of the collective of an enterprise increasingly dependent on the economic results of its business activity. The production development assets of an enterprise, the fund for social and cultural measures and the material incentive fund depend directly on the sales and the size of profits.
It should be noted that although the principle of distribution according to the work done has not changed in the course of the reform, it is now being implemented to the fullest benefit of society. To get a better idea of this principle let us quote N. A. Baturin, the chairman of the Kushalino Collective Farm in Kalinin Region, Deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet:
``Elaborating the schemes of the organisation and remuneration of labour we make every effort to extend the boundaries in which each person will be able to display his individual abilities, initiative and responsibility for his job and exercise his rights as master of production.
224``Our principle in remunerating labour is to make the collective farmer interested in his work as an individual worker, as a member of his team and as a member of the entire collective responsible for the overall result of his activity. We have a three-stage system of material incentives. As an individual worker, a collective farmer receives a bonus for the output over and above the plan... (the plan is fixed on the basis of average production indicators on the farm); as a member of a team he receives a bonus if his team exceeds the aggregate production plan in terms of value: the increase in the payment fund is proportional to the overfulfilment of the production plan. Finally, all collective farmers are equally entitled to receive on every earned ruble part of the profits assigned for distribution. In this way we try harmoniously to combine the interests of every individual worker, every team and the farm as a whole.''
Something similar is taking place in the whole of society. Now distribution according to labour no longer simply denotes payment for the time spent at work or for the items produced. The income of each worker also depends on the cost price of the item, on whether it is sold and on its quality. Thus, if each worker concerns himself with improving the work of the entire collective, introducing advanced techniques and technology, raising the quality of the output and its sales, he will earn more and society, too, will benefit.
Of course, this does not at all belittle the significance of the individual merits of a worker or his 225 responsibility for his job. The purpose of the incentive system is to estimate the contribution of each worker to the achievements of the entire collective as fully as possible. But with the scientific and technological revolution in progress and socialisation of the means of production, work becomes increasingly a collective effort, and that means that the final result of the productive activity of a large collective can largely depend on the performance of an individual worker or specialist. In these conditions no room remains for slipshodness, wastefulness, carelessness and for indifference towards them and the results of collective labour. That is why it is necessary to search for material and moral incentives suitable to the requirements of modern production.
Let us emphasise once again that improvement in the relations of production is an objective necessity arising from the development of the productive forces. And today the commoditymoney relations between people in the process of planned production and distribution conform most fully to the level of development of the productive forces. The 24th CPSU Congress pointed out that the improvement of the relations of production and the economic reform in the Soviet Union will continue. Acquiring a deeper knowledge of the laws of development of social production, each working man and woman can to an increasing extent promote the improvement of production relations.
__PRINTERS_P_225_COMMENT__ 15---2052 226 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The InfluenceIn many respects the specific features of the present historical stage are determined also by external factors, the most important being the expanding economic integration of socialist countries. ``Integration'' means unification. But an economic community is based above all on the distribution of various industries between countries. Some, for example, concentrate on the production of turbines, others on the manufacture of motor vehicles. A machine can be assembled from parts manufactured in various countries. This cuts production costs in each country and in the long run proves to be advantageous to all. Specialisation of production promotes mutual economic interest and stable ties between the partners. On the whole, economic development in the socialist community is best regulated on the basis of concerted plans. And, finally, there comes a period when various countries pool their efforts and means to solve specific economic problems, as, for instance, the construction of the Druzhba (Friendship) Oil Pipeline. We shall examine the co-operation of socialist countries further down.
On the other hand, the economic, scientific and technological competition between the two world systems has sharply intensified and is exerting an enormous influence on all processes taking place in the world, and the Soviet state has to take this feature of the contemporary period into account in all spheres of its activity.
227Above we have examined some of the most important features of the economy of developed socialism. As the 24th CPSU Congress pointed out, the Soviet Union has attained a level of production which has enabled it practically to launch the building of the material and technical basis of communism. This new level demands a further improvement in the management of the entire national economy and all social processes, a precise definition of today's tasks and ways of fulfilling them. They must be absolutely clear to all members of society. That was why the 24th GPSU Congress discussed as a single whole the following questions:~
the main aims towards which the CPSU is orientating the development of the Soviet economy;~
the resources that must be mobilised to ensure the further rapid rise of social production;~
the question of improving the mechanism of economic management in order to secure successful economic growth.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE SUPREME AIMKarl Marx considered that the full development of human forces was the "end in itself" of the development of society based on social justice. When Lenin worked on the Party's first programme he formulated the premise that socialism was a planned organisation of social production 228 designed to ensure the welfare and all-round development of all members of society. However difficult the tasks which had to be solved at each stage in the history of the Soviet Union, the CPSU has always had in mind the supreme aim---man and his well-being. ''. . . Under socialism,'' it was emphasised at the 24th CPSU Congress, "the fullest possible satisfaction of the people's material and cultural requirements is the supreme aim of social production.''
It is true that in the period of industrialisation the Soviet people had to tighten their belts and do without many essentials. But they deliberately exposed themselves to these privations realising that the satisfaction of their material and cultural requirements could not be regarded as the principal task of that period. Let us explain this.
Both in substance and significance the promotion of people's welfare is a multifold task which cannot be viewed from the position of the consumer alone. The requirements of a Soviet individual are also by no means a simple concept. Here is an example. A collective farm can either distribute among its members, say, 100 thousand rubles which they had earned, or spend them on tractors. Let us imagine that the collective farmers having spent all the money on food and other items will be unable to buy the necessary farm machinery to till the fields. In that case the farm will take in a poor harvest and begin to downgrade. But we can also assume that the following may happen: by spending all the money on new machinery, the collective farm will fail in making 229 the people interested in promoting the growth of production, it will not create conditions for the fruitful work of the tractor drivers themselves, for their training, neither will it build a club, school or whatever else the farm needs, and the expenditures on the tractors will not yield the expected results. This means that only the collective farmers themselves, after thoroughly considering which, personal or social, requirements of each member as master of the farm have to be satisfied in the first place, can arrive at the correct decision. And if half of the 100 thousand rubles is spent on the purchase of tractors in conformity with scientific calculations and the decision of the collective itself, will not this increase the wealth of the collective farm? And will not this decision in the long run promote the people's welfare? We can distribute and consume only that what has been produced. But production calls for a continual renewal of the means of production. Satisfaction of the people's requirements in the means of production forms the basis for meeting all their requirements.
Man's requirements are diverse and their levels vary. While a person is at home with his family his requirements are personal and are centred on the purchase of one or another thing for the house, books, saving money for holidays, etc. When he is at work his requirements acquire a different quality: he is interested in seeing his collective work in normal economic, sanitary, technical, aesthetic and psychological conditions. Returning from work he pays attention to 230 buildings, squares, the rhythm of city transport, considers the possibility of going to a theatre or a sports stadium.. . . Here his requirements attain a higher level. On a regional scale, i.e., within the limits of a certain territory, his requirements become even broader, including his desire to preserve the natural wealth, improve climatic conditions and promote cultural development. Finally, at the highest level, that of the whole of society, his requirements come to embrace the need to strengthen the country's defensive capability, encourage scientific research essential for the longterm development of society, improve the main proportions of economic development which enable separate branches and enterprises to select the most promising variants of production.
It would be a mistake, of course, not to distinguish between the accumulation and consumption funds, otherwise it would be impossible to understand all the new elements introduced into the social and economic policy by the 24th CPSU Congress.
The relation between these funds was not the same at all times. And this is very significant.
Yes, the policy of the CPSU has always been designed to improve people's welfare, but the possibilities for satisfying their requirements differed in various periods and for a long time were very limited due to specific historical factors. Today, however, they are much greater and it is now possible simultaneously to promote the development of the economy and satisfy people's requirements to a much greater extent.
231In the course of the seventh and the preceding five-year plan periods (with the exception of the first post-war five-year plan) the accumulation fund increased at a considerably faster rate than the consumption fund. In the period of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966--1970) the difference in their rates of growth was reduced to a minimum; the consumption fund increased by 40.5 per cent, and the accumulation fund by 41.9 per cent. In the course of the ninth five-year plan period the consumption fund will increase faster than the accumulation fund (40 and 37 per cent respectively). In the seventh five-year plan period the consumption fund increased by 31,400 million rubles, in the eighth by 56,800 million and in the ninth it will rise by 75,000--81,000 million rubles. This rise is ensured by the planned increase in the growth rates of social production. As a result of the accelerated growth of the consumption fund, the share of accumulation in the national income will decline somewhat by 1975, while the share of production accumulation (i.e., the growth of the basic production assets and stocks of commodity values) will remain on the same level as in the eighth five-year plan period.
A characteristic feature of the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1971--1975) is an increase in that portion of investments which go to develop the facilities for consumer goods production and everyday services. The share of manufactured consumer goods in the gross industrial output will also expand. The considerable shift towards fuller satisfaction of people's requirements is also expressed in the 232 fact that considerable labour resources are being drawn into the service industry.
These changes are engendered by both the country's growing possibilities and the new demands of production itself.
The link between successes in economic development and the growing welfare of the people is self-evident: the greater the successes, the higher is the standard of life. The distinctive feature of contemporary stage of development of Soviet production and society is that the growth of people's welfare is becoming ever more essential for the successful development of the economy itself and turning into an important economic factor of the growth of production in the USSR.
As we know, modern production raises rapidly increasing demands not only as regards technological equipment, but above all as regards the worker himself who creates and controls the machines. Machines immeasurably augment man's power, but are themselves the work of the human intellect and hands. Man is the main productive force and its development is most important for boosting production. "Investment into man'', as scientists now say, i.e., the creation of conditions for raising the educational and cultural level of a worker and for promoting his all-round development, is most profitable today.
Thus, we observe here once again the coincidence of the humanistic ideals of Soviet society and its desire to promote the all-round development of the individual with the objective trends in the development of social production.
233 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Formation of RequirementsThe Communist Party's line of raising the welfare of the Soviet people has nothing in common with the ideals of the so-called consumer society which is being widely propagandised by Western bourgeois ideologists. Their chief argument is that consumption can allegedly be an aim in itself for man, that there are no desires other than to purchase the most expensive, the most modern things, preferably those which neighbours and friends do not have, and that the source of human happiness and joy lies in the hunt for these commodities. At the same time they claim that acquisition of things is the motive force of progress. It is to be regretted that in the USSR, too, there are people who attach too much importance to the fact that under communism everything will be free of charge and people will just take what they want from shops.
Of course, the Communist Party and the Soviet state strive to raise the living standard of Soviet society to a high level and want that already now Soviet people could use all the benefits of civilisation. But in the final count their main concern is that in the happy future which the USSR is building people would consider all this normal and would not even be concerned about things or dream of saving money to buy a car. Their minds would be occupied with other matters, and in the first place with acquiring a deeper knowledge of the world in its complexity and beauty, from microparticles to the boundless 234 expanses of outer space, from the depths of the earth to the most distant stars. Work will become life's prime necessity and people will set greater store on spiritual values such as knowledge and art and the ability to be useful to other members of society. Concern for the satisfaction of human requirements under socialism and communism is in fact concern for establishing conditions under which man's creative individuality would develop to the full.
Man's requirements are changing more and more perceptibly, and it is of the utmost importance to take these changes into account no matter how difficult this may be. Results of investigations show that physiologically determined material requirements are coming to occupy a relatively decreasing place in the aggregate of requirements. The fact of the matter is that a person does not want to buy just an ordinary coat, but a fashionable one, not just a chair or table but a modern set of furniture. In making his choice he is no longer principally guided by the requirements of the organism but, as specialists say, by "social standards'', i.e., by the concept of what is good and what is bad, which has formed in the given period as a result of association with other people. This is also true of spiritual values. Even economic stimulation should be viewed from the point of view of unity of its two aspects---material and moral. For example, a wage increase not only denotes a rise in the sum of material benefits: it is also a source of satisfaction for a person who regards it as sign of social 235 recognition of his services. But that is not all. The spiritual life of person in socialist society is incomparably richer, broader and more diversified than in capitalist society for the simple reason that the Soviet man is master of his land and his future. His interests are based on lofty social ideals which permeate all his aspirations. Perhaps the most important thing as regards human requirements is that a person does not simply want to possess a greater amount of material values, but that he wants to increase his influence on production and distribution. The 24th CPSU Congress laid special emphasis on the need for broader participation of the masses in the management of production and public life in the country.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The TasksThe Ninth Five-Year Economic Development Plan of the USSR for 1971--1975 takes into account the changes in the character of social requirements.
In this period the incomes of the working people will rise: the average monthly wage of workers and office employees will rise by 22.4 per cent, and the collective farmers' incomes from social production will go up by 30.6 per cent. A system of measures will be introduced to raise the real incomes of working people---wage increases for low-bracket working people, higher scholarship grants, and so forth. In the period from 1971 to 236 1974 alone about 47 million people had their wages raised, and more than 30 million had their pensions, scholarships and other grants increased.
For example, a family of four which in 1970 received various benefits to the average sum of 3,200 rubles from the consumption fund of the national income, will be receiving these benefits to the sum of 4,300 rubles by the end of the ninth five-year plan period.
The 24th CPSU Congress paid special attention to consumer goods production and the study of demand in order to enable working people to spend their earnings to their greatest advantage. This is taken into account by directors of enterprises, specialists and also by every worker.
Besides a growth in wages there will be a further increase in the social consumption funds in the ninth five-year plan period. In the preceding five years they increased more than 1.5 times and in 1970 comprised 262 rubles per head of population as against 182 rubles in 1965. In the ninth five-year plan period social consumption funds will increase 40.6 per cent, and it is not accidental that their growth is faster than the growth in wages. To a considerable degree social consumption funds level out the possibility of Soviet people to satisfy such vital requirements as medical care, education and social security.
Concern for people's health is not confined to medical care: measures are being taken to improve working conditions, everyday services and rest and leisure facilities. The five-year plan envisages a 237 further improvement of facilities for mass forms of physical culture and sports and the promotion of tourism; new river, sea, railway, motor and air tourist routes will be organised, and more hotels, garages and other facilities for tourists will be built.
In keeping with the plan, important headway will also be made in the field of public education. The transition to universal secondary education will be completed in the main in 1975. Higher and specialised secondary education schools will train about nine million specialists, including experts in new fields of science and technology and for the rapidly developing branches of production and the service industry.
One of the most important factors of the people's welfare is the pace at which the housing problem is being solved. Between 1966 and 1970 apartment houses with 518 million square metres of living space were built and 55 million Soviet citizens improved their housing conditions. In the ninth five-year period another 565--575 million square metres of housing will be built. In the first four years of the plan a total of 434.6 million square metres were put up and approximately 43 million people moved into new flats.
An extensive programme for bettering utilities and town improvement will be carried into effect in the course of the Ninth Five-Year Plan. Homes in towns and urban-type settlements will have gas to the extent of 65--75 per cent and rural homes to the extent of 40--50 per cent. The water supply of towns and urban-type settlements will 238 be improved and domestic consumption of electric power will rise.
Over the eighth five-year period the extent of everyday services increased more than two times, including three times in the villages, and their rate of development will be approximately the same under the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
In 1966--1970 10,000 million rubles were spent on measures to raise the welfare of the people, whereas 22,000 million rubles will be spent on similar measures under the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
The above is a concrete expression of the CPSU line of raising the welfare of the Soviet people.
It is common knowledge, however, that it is possible to consume only that what is produced. This applies equally to the individual and to society as a whole. Naturally, therefore, when we refer to the satisfaction of personal requirements, we have in mind only effective demand. A person who works best receives more and better articles of personal use. As regards society as a whole, it is natural that the extent to which its requirements are satisfied depends on the efficiency of social production as a whole.
What are the main sources of growth, the resources that should be mobilised to enable Soviet society to attain its immediate and long-term targets?
239 __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE SOURCE OF MEANSIt is possible to secure a considerable rise in the material and cultural level of the Soviet people only on the basis of high rates of development and greater efficiency of socialist production, scientific and technological progress and accelerated growth of labour productivity. Labour alone can be the source of growth of social welfare.
But simply conscientious labour, the application of physical efforts is not enough nowadays. In our age of the scientific and technological revolution, the success of production and consequently the improvement of the living standard depend on rational labour drawing on the latest scientific achievements, calculating labour involving the economy of rapidly mounting production costs, creative labour based on a continuous search for optimal solutions.
The CPSU draws the attention of the people to the fact that there are very limited possibilities for extensive development in the country, and that the main emphasis should be laid on the intensification of production, on raising its efficiency. What does this mean?
Extensive development implies the bringing of new lands under the plough, the employment of additional manpower and the building of new factories. Clearly such development cannot be 240 boundless; its limits are obvious right from the start.
Intensive development as applied to production means a relative increase in investments per hectare, expenditures on fertilisers and farm machinery, and the introduction of new equipment and technologies at factories making it possible to obtain more products from the same production areas. The crux of the task of raising the efficiency of production is to achieve a considerable increase in the volume of production and national income per each unit of labour, material and financial outlays. That is also what raising the productivity of social labour in the final analysis amounts to.
Higher labour productivity in the ninth fiveyear plan period should account for at least 80 per cent of the increase in the national income, 87--90 per cent in industrial production, 95 per cent in building and assembly and the entire increase in railway freight carriage. The envisaged growth in farm output must be secured entirely by raising the productivity of labour.
The successful achievement of the five-year plan targets and the entire development of production and society depend on the growth of labour productivity.
Perhaps everybody has at least an idea of the importance of the growth of labour productivity. "In the last analysis,'' Lenin wrote shortly after the establishment of Soviet power, "productivity of labour is the most important, the principal thing for the victory of the new social system. . . . Capitalism can be utterly vanquished, and will 241 be utterly vanquished by socialism creating a new and much higher productivity of labour. This is a very difficult matter and must take a long time; but it has been started, and that is the main thing."^^*^^
Sometimes, however, this important economic category is oversimplified and this leads to all sorts of curious things. Here is an example.
A factory purchased new equipment, but the annual depreciation deductions from the cost of these mechanisms and the expenses connected with their exploitation considerably exceed the economy on wages. Can we speak of a growth in labour productivity in this case, even if more products are now turned out per worker?
In a way yes, because in physical terms (the number of items per working hour), labour productivity has increased. But will a good manager regard this as an achievement and will he strive for such a growth in labour productivity? In this case it turns out that such productivity as a means contradicts the aim. If such a "growth of labour productivity" leads to losses, how can it promote the growth of the country's national income and lead to a better satisfaction of working people's requirements?
Karl Marx has a very precise definition: " Productive power has reference ... to ... the efficacy of any special productive activity during a given time being dependent on its productiveness."^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 427.
^^**^^ K. Marx, Capital, Vol. I, Moscow, 1971, p. 46.
__PRINTERS_P_241_COMMENT__ 16---2052 242Does this mean that efficacy is always measured in items, centners, cubic metres per person? Of course, not. The increase in the volume of output in physical terms is only one aspect of the matter, though a very important one. According to Marx, if the output is not sold at all then the labour expended on it can be considered lost and is not recognised as labour. And, of course, it is not worthwhile speaking about any growth of the productivity of such labour.
The factory wants to know whether its output has been sold, and at what price, and what amount of labour has been saved, not only live labour, but also that embodied in the means of production (raw materials, machines and buildings). What is important in determining the growth of labour productivity at an industrial enterprise is its expression in value terms, which takes account of all these factors. From this point of view it once again turns out that each Soviet worker, each collective farmer ought to be concerned not only about increasing production but also about improving its quality, that he ought to be thrifty and take care not only of his own work place, but also of his enterprise as a whole. In addition to employing his muscular energy, he must also work creatively and with a will.
What are the basic ways of raising the efficiency of social production and labour productivity?
243 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Application of Science and Technology.In our age of the scientific and technological revolution it is of primary importance to promote science and use its achievements in practice. A careful study of the requirements modern production makes of technological equipment, sources of power and objects of labour shows that all these questions can be solved only on a scientific basis. Solution of many problems, including the creation of new equipment and technology, calculation of the optimal conditions of work of highlyproductive machines, rational use of equipment and organisation of labour, depends wholly on the collective efforts of scientists and practical workers. And today very many scientists become practical workers in the full sense of the word and are placed in charge of ever new branches of production.
From the point of view of scientific and technological progress, the major task of people directly engaged in production is to speed up the replacement of obsolete machines. Obsolescence means that a machine is not necessarily worn out; but since there already exist more efficient machines, those who employ outdated equipment may find themselves far behind and lose the economic competition.
A characteristic feature of the Ninth Five-Year Plan is the steadily increasing supply of modern instruments of labour to industrial enterprises. Their output will rise 1.6 times and it is planned 244 to design about 25,000 and launch the production of more than 19,000 new types of machines, mechanisms, apparatuses and devices.
One of the most urgent tasks is the mechanisation of labour-consuming jobs, the replacement of manual labour with machines and automated lines. Mechanisation will be comprehensive.
In agriculture, an increase in the efficiency of production can be achieved only through comprehensive mechanisation coupled with chemicalisation (i.e., the use of fertilisers, chemical weedkillers and pesticides) and melioration (land improvement).
Scientific organisation of labour (SOL) is an important means of enhancing the efficiency of production. Usually this work begins with the drafting of SOL plans for each work place. After that plans are drawn up for production sections, shops and, finally, for the whole enterprise.
Here, too, a comprehensive approach to the problem produces the greatest effect. A sciencebased organisation of production must be combined with a rational organisation of labour at each work place. SOL planning is a powerful disciplining means of raising the efficiency of all links of the production process.
The Communist Party's appeal to enhance the efficiency of production has met with a broad response from industrial and agricultural workers in the USSR as may be judged, for instance, by the very substantial growth in the number of inventions. In 1974 approximately 3.9 million 245 inventions and rationalisation proposals were introduced in various branches of the national economy. As a result, an annual economy of 4,000 million rubles was achieved.
Rationalisation proposals and inventions are a most important factor of scientific and technological progress.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ ImprovementA great deal can be done to raise the efficiency of production by improving its location and structure, i.e., the correlation and the territorial distribution of the various branches of production.
This concerns the whole of society in the first place. It is most important correctly to decide what branches of production should be given priority. As regards the heavy industry branches, such a decision leads to changes in many other branches, for the heavy industry manufactures the means of production for all branches and thus determines their rates of development, too.
The selection of the site for a factory is another question. For instance, when Soviet planning agencies began examining the problem of selecting a site for the automobile factory which now manufactures the Lada car they had the choice of more than 30 towns. As a result of detailed calculations which took into account a very large number of factors, including expenditures connected with the transportation of raw materials, finished cars and the availability of labour 246 resources, only six towns remained on the list. Then with the help of modern computers 16 variants of calculations were made with regard to each of these six towns and only after that the planning agencies took the decision substantiated in every detail to put up the factory in Togliatti on the Volga.
The location and structure of production is of importance for individual branches, republics and towns. It is also taken up and solved in its own way at individual enterprises. A collective farm offers the best example illustrating this point. No one can deny that it is unprofitable to cultivate water melons in Arkhangelsk Region (north of the USSR). But very serious calculations have to be made before it can be decided how best to combine the cultivation of wheat and sugar-beet on a collective farm in the black-earth belt of Russia, how to combine the development of marketable grain production with livestock breeding, and how to combine, in livestock breeding, its branches, say, the production of meat and eggs. Production efficiency, i.e., the input-output ratio, depends to a very great extent on the correct structure of production.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Use of Production AssetsThe Soviet Union's existing production assets are a source of its vast economic strength and provide it with enormous opportunities for further development.
247Production assets include buildings, machines and equipment, and a great deal here depends on the volume of output they produce annually, daily and hourly.
The efforts to keep machines and equipment operating at their full capacity, to increase inter-repair periods, to cut down repair time (naturally not at the expense of quality), and to ensure effective maintenance of equipment and buildings spell additional profits, increased efficiency of social production. One can judge of the tremendous reserves latent in the fixed production assets by their value which today equals almost 740,000 million rubles.
The 24th CPSU Congress emphasised the need to raise the shift coefficient. At times new factories are built, while similar enterprises already in commission operate in one shift. This is a sheer waste of money, and the workers themselves can recommend the managers and specialists how to improve the organisation of production and raise the shift coefficient.
In order to increase the efficiency of social production it is very important to improve the use of investments, i.e., the money spent on the construction of factories, state farms, and so forth. In the sphere of material production the Soviet Union is now building more than any other country in the world; the task now is to speed up the returns on the money expended and to make them as large as possible.
This depends on the location of production capacities and the rates of construction and the 248 rates of mastering newly built enterprises. It is important to see how much is spent on the construction of new enterprises and on the renewal of plant. The latter outlays are usually more effective.
The task of raising the efficiency of production is a complex one involving all aspects of economic life without exception; and the Communist Party and the Soviet Government take this circumstance into account. At its Plenary Meeting in December 1969, the CPSU Central Committee emphasised that it was necessary to further the policy of economy, increase the personal responsibility of each Soviet worker for the common cause and enhance labour discipline. All industrial and other enterprises in the Soviet Union have ample opportunities to save on raw and other materials, electric power, fuel and tools. No smaller reserves can be tapped through the rationalisation of technological processes, and a more advantageous arrangement of machines, lathes and transportation facilities.
The 24th CPSU Congress pointed out the imperative need for industrial workers to make a definite change in their approach to economic questions, and modify some of their habitual conceptions. There was a time when due to specific conditions priority was given to quantitative indicators: the point was to produce so many tons of steel, so many tons of oil, so many tons of coal.
Of course, the quantitative aspect is still important, but now it is much more important to take 249 account of the indicators relating to the quality of production and the economic results of the activity of industrial enterprises.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Economic EducationToday, with the intensification of production in the USSR, it is especially important to promote the economic education of cadres, of all Soviet working people.
It is no longer possible to manage the economy without a thorough knowledge of economics, the contemporary economic policy and a clear idea of the tasks being fulfilled. Accordingly, in order to raise economic management to a higher level, the CPSU Central Committee adopted a Resolution "On the Improvement of the Economic Education of Working People'', emphasising the need to establish a well-organised nation-wide system of economic education of cadres in all branches of the economy: specialists, workers, office employees, collective farmers, and all working people in general, with due regard for the type of enterprise and branch of production and the nature of work performed by all categories of working people.
The main emphasis is placed on the study of the economic policy of the CPSU, the laws of social development, Leninist principles and methods of economic management, and the economics and organisation of production. Economic education is also designed to help people acquire a knowledge of economics proper, teach them to run 250 the economy efficiently, raise labour productivity and enhance its level of organisation.
The Resolution notes that economic education should dovetail with the organisation of the entire economic activity of enterprises and raise the level of economic management. It also makes the point that working people should continuously improve their skill and that their freshly acquired knowledge should be embodied in concrete achievements. If all working people acquire the habit of making economic analysis, if they steadfastly improve methods of labour and their skill, and rationally use national wealth it would only be to the benefit of the state and each member of Soviet society.
The main purpose of giving working people an economic education is to enable them to combine their knowledge of economic laws and the economic policy of the CPSU with the concrete tasks of the struggle for the fulfilment of economic development plans.
Higher efficiency of social production in large measure depends on the further improvement in the system of management of the socialist economy and is necessitated by the rapid development of production in the USSR.
What are the tasks facing the Soviet people in this field?
251 __ALPHA_LVL2__ ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT ANDThe improvement of the system of economic management is a key question of the Communist Party's economic policy, and as such was formulated with the utmost clarity at the 24th CPSU Congress:
``This is essentially a matter of how best to organise the activity of society in accelerating economic and social development, in ensuring the fullest use of the available possibilities, and in rallying even closer together hundreds of thousands of collectives, and tens of millions of working people round the main aims of the Party's policy. Consequently, questions relating to management affect not only a narrow circle of executives and specialists, but all Party, government and economic organisations and all collectives of working people.''
In April 1973, the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a Resolution "On Certain Measures for Improving the Management of Industry'', which is of great importance for boosting industrial development in the USSR. These measures are designed to open up fresh opportunities for the further concentration and specialisation of production and accelerating of scientific and technological progress in all branches of Soviet industry. Economic management bodies will have closer ties with enterprises, the rights and duties of various economic links will be more precisely defined and the 252 administrative machinery will become more efficient. In the final analysis these measures will lead to a further upsurge in the entire national economy.
The Resolution not only defines the field of management and its basic tasks, but also lays special emphasis on the need to draw all working people into economic management. This is a most important requirement arising from the very nature of production relations under socialism and the specific features of the present stage of its development.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Scientific ManagementAs production becomes increasingly complex it is more and more difficult to manage it. Precisely this factor engendered the science of management, which has developed into a separate branch of knowledge and is now being applied on an ever wider scale. It embraces methods of collecting and processing information and helps define the level at which a decision has to be taken (enterprise, branch, society). Based on new analytical methods the science of management makes it possible to consider phenomena in life as a system and in their interconnection. It uses methods of scientific prognostication, i.e., of forecasting the possible variants of development, and modern planning methods.
Electronic computers play an exceptionally important role in improving economic management. The management of the economy, a branch of 253 production or an individual enterprise can be successful only if the leading bodies are promptly supplied with information about the state of affairs in them, rapidly process this information and, knowing the situation, take appropriate decisions. As production increases the flow of economic, technological, technical and other information increases to such a degree that it is simply impossible to receive and process it in good time with the help of ordinary methods. Now technical devices are being employed which speedily gather and process necessary information. And that is not all. If one feeds a preset programme of operations into a machine it will rapidly produce an answer informing how effective one or another decision will be and will even give a comparative analysis of several variants of decisions. Electronic computers, some of which perform up to 10,000,000 arithmetical operations a second, need just a few hours to do the work which scores of economists and planning specialists need many days to complete.
What do electronic computers do at industrial enterprises? Here is a concrete example. The Uralmash Works in Sverdlovsk has more than 100 shops and dozens of production subsections working on thousands of orders. Each machine produced at the works has thousands of components and each component undergoes dozens of operations in the course of its making. In order to organise the rhythmic work of all the equipment it is necessary to know exactly how things stand with the production of each component and unit, keep track of a vast number of inter-shop links 254 and ensure that each machine-tool is working at full capacity.
Recently the first stage of an automated management system consisting of several sub-systems was commissioned at the Uralmash Works. One sub-system takes care of the engineering preparations, the second handles routine recording and registration, the third plans maintenance and supply, the fourth takes care of techno-economic planning, the fifth does accounting operations and the sixth handles personnel matters. The entire course of production becomes visible, enabling the managerial bodies to see what previously was hidden from their eyes. For instance, they see the load of each lathe not only for the day but for a month ahead; they see how well each work place is supplied with raw materials and tools. Timely information, the computation of the efficacy of the possible variants of decisions enable the management to take prompt measures and furnish timely economically and technically substantiated solutions to problems that arise in the course of production.
Automated management systems are being introduced on a steadily increasing scale in the national economy. An automated management system of an entire branch of production is being introduced, for example, at the USSR Ministry of Instrument-Making, Automation Facilities and Control Systems. With the help of electronic computers it draws up long-term development plans, selects sites for enterprises, draws up their production plans, processes information about the 255 operation of enterprises, makes calculations in the field of maintenance and supply, sales, and so forth.
The greatest economic effect is produced by the employment of electronic computers in managing the economy as a whole. Thanks to the socialist public ownership of the means of production there are ample possibilities in this sphere. The State Planning Committee of the USSR has set up the Main Computer Centre whose staff largely made up of economists and mathematicians is already working on a series of nation-wide problems.
Nevertheless, it should always be borne in mind that a machine, however sophisticated, is only a machine and has to be operated by man. If, for instance, the machine is to solve the problem of deriving maximum profit, it will not take measures to enable man to work well, provide facilities for his rest, take steps to prevent industrial accidents, see to it that the speed of the conveyor does not affect the workers' nervous system, and so forth. But all these ``restrictions'' can be coded and fed into the machine. It may produce a variant which is orientated on high profits, but which cannot be implemented without taking into account human possibilities and requirements. In other words, electronic computers are merely technical devices and the important thing is who uses them and for what purpose, that is, who owns them and whom they serve.
There can be no doubt that a capitalist proprietor for whom the amassment of maximum profits is the sole purpose of production may 256 easily use the latest computing devices as a means of more adroitly underpaying the workers. At the same time it is clear that in a society where the working people are the masters of production, the application of sophisticated computers invariably furthers their interests; it does not clash with the development of democratic principles of management and promotes their fullest and consistent implementation. Participation of the masses is the basic and most important factor which distinguishes socialist economic management from management of capitalist production.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Both Master and WorkerIf we ask ourselves the question what exactly enables Soviet society to raise labour productivity to a higher level than that in capitalist production, wherein lies the key to the solution of the general task formulated by Lenin, we shall logically turn to the socio-economic sphere, to the problems of human relations.
Indeed, is land in the Soviet Union richer than that, say, in the USA? Evidently not, and in general natural conditions are not decisive. Japan is a case in point. Though by no means rich in minerals Japan not long ago overtook the Federal Republic of Germany and became the world's third biggest producer of steel. In agriculture, too, high labour productivity is not necessarily typical of countries with fertile lands: in the USA, the FRG and a number of other advanced capitalist countries land may not be more fertile than in Pakistan but labour productivity in agriculture is 257 incomparably higher. Turning to science and technology it is clear that the USSR and the capitalist countries have equal opportunities for promoting their development with the exception of socio-- economic conditions, the structure of society itself which gives the Soviet people unquestionable advantages. And therein lies the principal distinction.
Let us continue the comparison: perhaps the USSR will increase investments to develop its productive forces at a faster rate? This is necessary, of course. But where will the USSR get the required means? An increase in the accumulation funds resulting from a deliberate reduction of consumption is an emergency measure and can be enforced for a limited period only; the main source of accumulation lies precisely in greater labour productivity. Now let us look at the question from a different angle: perhaps, on the contrary, the Soviet state by paying higher wages will heighten the interest of Soviet people in the results of their work and thereby greatly develop production? It is absolutely true that the Soviet Government is anxious to raise wages, but this, too, depends solely on the growth of labour productivity. So what do we have, a vicious circle? Nothing of the sort, for this circle is sundered as soon as we turn to the sphere of production relations, to the question of man's place in production.
At the beginning of the chapter we said that man's role in production increases tremendously as a result of the scientific and technological __PRINTERS_P_257_COMMENT__ 17---2052 258 revolution. Accordingly, we arrived at the conclusion that a society which gives latitude for developing the main productive force, thus making people interested in acquiring and applying scientific knowledge in practice and developing a new attitude to labour, will derive the biggest benefit. In this respect the possibilities which are inherent in socialist society do not exist under capitalism.
Bourgeois philosophers, sociologists and psychologists have come forward with some interesting pronouncements. The American economist, Charles Killingsworth, is convinced that automation has tremendously increased the importance of investment in man as a factor of economic development. Alfred Sauvy, a French demographer, draws the conclusion on the basis of his studies that the principal factor of progress is not capital, as was formerly believed, but knowledge and the ability of people to create wealth. This evokes a certain degree of pessimism in the opinions of other people. The American psychologist, Frederick Herzberg, speaks of the great importance of getting the worker to believe that what is advantageous to his firm is advantageous to himself. At the same time, however, he acknowledges that there is no practical way of achieving this because the interests of a private firm clash with the interests of the worker. US industrialists have ol late begun to complain about the "decline in the morals" of the workers who have no wish to work with the enthusiasm and energy expected of them.
In capitalist society, proprietors resort to all possible means to make the workers interested in 259 improving their attitude to work, and even go to the extent of distributing a portion of the profits among them, but only in proportions which do not damage their own interests. Propaganda is also used for the same purpose, i.e., to mislead a person into thinking that he is not an exploited hired worker but an equal member of society, to make him change his attitude to work and thus raise his productivity and make him work more intensively. To achieve this, capitalist propaganda tries to prove that being members of an "industrial society" workers and capitalists have ``common'' interests.
Such measures of influencing the workers should not be underestimated. But, of course, they do not resolve the main contradiction, namely the contradiction between the social nature of labour and the private capitalist form of appropriating its results, between wage labour and capital. The proprietor and his hired worker inevitably stand in opposition to each other inasmuch as the latter due to his psychology seeks "to lighten the burden of labour or to obtain at least some little bit from the bourgeoisie".^^*^^ No matter how hard capitalist ideologists may try to embellish wage labour relations, their substance does not change and, therefore, as Marx wrote, a worker in his work "does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 410.
260 mortifies his body and ruins his mind".^^*^^ Wage labour, Marx wrote, like slave and serf labour is the lower form of labour which must give way to associated, i.e., united labour "carried out voluntarily, willingly and with enthusiasm''. Compare this point of view with that of the French scientist, Fran9ois Corre, who writes that daily work is worse than hard labour for the majority of people today. This view is echoed by the US sociologist, Robert Dubin, who maintains that a worker who performs one and the same operation at the conveyor belt is in fact a cog in a machine. But Lenin's words stand out in sharp contrast to these thoughts: "We must organise all labour, no matter how toilsome or messy it may be, in such a way that every worker and peasant will be able to say: I am part of the great army of free labour, and shall be able to build up my life without the landowners and capitalists, able to help establish a communist system."^^**^^It goes without saying that the Soviet state has always tried and is doing so today to reduce messy, monotonous, arduous labour to a minimum. Designers and scientists in many fields are working in this direction. Much is already being done to reduce the incidence of industrial injuries, and a new branch of science, industrial aesthetics, has come into being. But the basic difference between _-_-_
^^*^^ K. Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Moscow, 1959, p. 72.
^^**^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 299.
261 the views of the authors whom we have just quoted is obvious. Bourgeois economists and sociologists regard the transformation of man into a ``cog'' of a machine, and the ``dehumanisation'' of labour as a natural development which cannot be averted because it is allegedly determined by scientific and technological progress. And while there are people who regard this process as characteristic of only a certain phase of development, others have even a gloomier outlook for the future. For example, Jacques Ellul, a French sociologist, maintains that a human being can no longer use machinery in his own interests because it has become an aim in itself and people have to adapt themselves to it even if many spiritual values are destroyed in the process.The classics of Marxism-Leninism regard the exploitation of the worker by the capitalist as the main cause of the dehumanisation of labour.
Lenin pointed out that any labour can be a source of joy and satisfaction if the worker becomes the master of production and is a participant in the collective building of a new society. In this case the worker himself seeks to raise the efficiency of production and to improve his working conditions, for both are in his own interests.
With the transition of power to the workers and peasants every factory and village became, as Lenin put it, "a field in which the working man can reveal his talents, unbend his back a little, rise to his full height, and feel that he is a human being. For the first time after centuries of working for others, of forced labour for the exploiter, it 262 has become possible to work for oneself. . . ."^^*^^ For the first time in history the owner of the means of production and the worker become embodied in a single person. Lenin saw in this the unity of material and moral factors determining man's attitude to social production and a condition for developing socialist emulation. The latter's advantage over capitalist rivalry consists in that it involves the working masses who, and not a handful of capitalists, reap the fruits of the emulation which simultaneously solves not only material but also moral and educational problems. The new feeling of being one of those who collectively, not individually, own property could only be engendered in specific social conditions and cultivated in the course of long years. A working man acquired a definite urge to participate in production management. This is a social gain and in a sense a social problem.
Bourgeois sociologists say that something similar is taking place in the sentiments of certain sections of the workers at capitalist enterprises. Naturally, however, it is difficult to compare a requirement consciously developed by socialist society with a requirement which is frequently concealed and suppressed under capitalism. The urge to manage production is another form of the requirement for the means of production, which corresponds to the contemporary level of socialisation of the means of production and not to the level of domestic craft. Capitalism cannot satisfy _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 407.
263 this urge and remain capitalism at the same time. But socialism can, because of the public ownership of the means of production in socialist society, and this requirement is, in one way or another, continuously satisfied. It is another matter that a search is being made for its ever fuller satisfaction in the changing conditions. And the Party pays great attention to this question. __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Conscious DisciplineThe new, socialist society also creates new principles of labour discipline. The organisation of social labour under serfdom was based on the discipline of the club held over the heads of the extremely ignorant and oppressed labourers plundered and humiliated by a handful of landowners. The capitalist organisation of social labour has always been dependent upon the discipline of hunger.
``The communist organisation of social labour,'' wrote Lenin, "the first step towards which is socialism, rests, and will do so more and more as time goes on, on the free and conscious discipline of the working people themselves. .. ."^^*^^
Dwelling on the principles of the new production discipline Lenin noted that it was a " discipline of faith ... a discipline of comradeship, a discipline of the utmost mutual respect, a discipline _-_-_
^^*^^ Ibid., Vol. 29, p. 420.
264 of independence and initiative. . .".^^*^^ The difference between the discipline of this kind and enforced discipline is very well described in a figurative expression: soldiers can be ordered to march smartly but there is a distinction between the sincere co-operation of enthusiasts and a show of accommodation effected under fear of punishment.The following incident took place at an iron and steel factory near Philadelphia in the United States nearly a hundred years ago. A worker asked an engineer what was the purpose of the products he made and how they were used. Keep silent, the engineer replied. No one is asking you to think as well as work. There are people who are paid to do this.
The engineer was Frederick Winslow Taylor, the man who had developed a system of labour organisation with a view to the most efficient planning of the working day and the most rational utilisation of the means of production. The Taylor system evoked world-wide approval and proprietors in many countries introduced it at their factories. In spite of the scornful condemnation and bigoted attacks by ``Left'' Communists, Lenin advocated that it should be studied and taught in Russia and systematically tested and adapted. At the same time he disclosed the basic difference in the utilisation of the new methods of scientific organisation of labour in capitalist countries and in the USSR. In capitalist countries these methods _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 515.
265 further the most brutal capitalist exploitation, the intensification of the sweating system with the resulting growth of capitalist profits. In the Soviet Union rational methods of labour promote its efficiency, on the one hand, and facilitate labour itself, on the other. Both are beneficial to working people themselves.Scientific organisation of labour has become an integral part of the organisation of production throughout the world. But the substance of the Taylor system contained an element which is best described as strict differentiation between the duties of the management and those of the rankand-file workers. It was the duty of the management to think about technology and the organisation of production, while the workers were to perform prescribed operations and receive remuneration for each operation or for each item produced. Today Western scientists are no longer unanimous in their views on this matter. Some say that in this respect Taylorism has become hopelessly out of date and that the worker must think and be interested in promoting the growth of production. As regards the views of these specialists concerning the interest of the workers, we have already examined them earlier in/the book. At the same time there are views which revive the old practice on a new foundation; these are all sorts of so-called elitist conceptions. What is meant here is not merely the higher aristocratic circles in their former sense, but technical experts. Therefore, another word, ``technocracy'', i.e., rule by top technical experts, is sometimes used. But 266 let us not analyse these theories as applied to bourgeois society, particularly since the views that power is already passing irom the owners into the hands of the experts are clearly erroneous. It is more important to look into another matter.
Even in socialist countries there are scientists who think that it is impossible or difficult to combine the principles of scientific management and democracy in the management of production. The one is placed in opposition to the other. The adherents of this concept regard science and scientific disciplines as the "main principle" of the organisation of production, as something which is above democracy. These views are incorrect for the following reasons.
Their overestimation of the role played by technical experts is in a way connected with technological progress. But those who think along these lines pay no attention to the fact that technological progress also sharply enhances the professional skill and the level of technical and general knowledge not only of the intelligentsia, but also of the workers, and, in the final count, erases the distinctions between physical and mental labour.
It goes without saying that the development of science and technology deepens the specialisation of production and, hence, of the workers. Already today a chemist finds it increasingly difficult to understand a physicist, let alone a literary worker or a physician. And it can be surmised that as time goes on a chemist doing research in a certain field will be less able to understand his 267 counterpart working in another. This does not mean, however, that mutual understanding between people will be reduced to such an extent that they will be unable jointly to resolve key problems of economic development. As for numerous questions of social development, it is simply impossible to solve them without the participation of the entire mass of working people.
``. . .The more difficult, the greater, the more responsible this new historical problem is,'' Lenin wrote, "the larger must be the number of those enlisted for the purpose of taking an independent part in solving it."^^*^^ The combination of science and democracy in management is the demand of the times.
In point of fact it is the conscious discipline of working people united by a common idea and a common aim which forms the cementing foundation of socialist production. At its 24th Congress the CPSU noted that one of its paramount tasks was to foster in Soviet people the new, communist attitude to work.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Interests and DisciplineWe would be idealists, however, if we were to think that conscious discipline appears outside the sphere of material interests, that the sense of being the master of production, the realisation of " working for oneself" are permanently present in a _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 469.
268 person. Conscious discipline rests on the coincidence of the material and spiritual interests of the individual, the collective and society. This is expressly what makes conscious discipline a reality. Specific contradictions between the interests of the individual and the collective, and the collective and society can and do arise, but they are resolved mainly through the continuous improvement of production relations. That is the purpose of the economic reform now under way in the Soviet Union. It is designed to raise the interest of the enterprise in attaining the results essential for society, namely, to manufacture the necessary amount of high-quality products in a most economical way. And the individual becomes increasingly interested in the successful operation of the enterprise.The 24th CPSU Congress noted that the improvement of the relations of production is a continuously developing process.
First and foremost the CPSU calls for maximum efforts to improve planning which should rest on a more precise study of social requirements, more accurate scientific forecasts of the processes of economic development and on an all-round analysis and evaluation of different variants of decisions and their possible consequences.
Special significance is attached to long-term planning, since important economic and social tasks often require more than five years to fulfil. For example, it takes more than five years to build an iron and steel or a chemical plant. The Congress has set the task of working out long-term 269 economic development plans which should be tied in with five-year and annual plans.
The Congress considered it important to raise individual responsibility for assignments and examined the question of rights and responsibilities.
Noting the importance and the efficiency of the measures introduced under the economic reform to increase material incentives, the 24th CPSU Congress defined currently the most important aspects deserving particular attention. First, economic conditions have to be created that would induce ministries and enterprises to assume optimal commitments, i.e., adopt maximum plans and make more rational use of investments and labour resources; second, it is necessary to secure the utmost acceleration of scientific and technological progress and growth of labour productivity, and third, to stimulate the interest of the working people in improving the quality of output.
In this connection the Congress pointed out the need consistently to observe autonomous economic accounting principles, and not only at enterprises but also at higher economic levels, viz., associations, main boards and production branches. The point is that the principle of distribution according to work should be more fully implemented at all economic levels so that people who have attained better economic results and thus contributed more to society should be better remunerated. It is planned to provide enterprises with broader possibilities for giving incentives to those workers and production collectives who make the largest 270 contribution to the development of production, combine trades and adopt a master-like and thrifty attitude to social wealth.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTThe characteristic features of developed socialism are certainly not confined solely to changes in the socialist economy. The 24th CPSU Congress made a searching socio-political analysis of the present stage of social development and set forth the tasks connected with the formation of new relations in Soviet society and the moulding of the new man. In the preceding chapter we touched upon these questions insofar as the need to do so stemmed from an analysis of socialist production, its aims and the role of the individual in production. Now, we shall examine the changes in the social structure of Soviet society and the tasks of the further development of socialist democracy and the moulding of the individual.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Social Structure of SocietyIn order to describe the social structure of society it is necessary to define and characterise its classes, social sections and groups, and their mutual relationship. It is absolutely clear from the materials of the 24th CPSU Congress that in this respect Soviet society is not immobile and is subject to changes which require constant study. 271 The Congress made the point that the Party's policy yields the desired results only when it fully takes into account the interests of both the entire people and its various classes and social groups, and directs these interests into a single common channel.
The Party's policy is designed to help bring the working class, the collective-farm peasantry and the intelligentsia closer together, gradually erasing the essential distinctions between town and country and between brainwork and manual labour. Long arid difficult as it is, this process is a key factor in the building of a classless communist society.
The drawing together of all classes and social groups in the Soviet Union, the moral and political upbringing of the Soviet people and the strengthening of their social unity are being achieved on the basis of Marxist-Leninist ideology, which expresses the socialist interests and communist ideals of the working class.
The working class has been and remains the main productive force of socialist society. This is not an artificially created privilege, but a result of the objective laws of social development.
In the first place the working class is the most numerous in Soviet society. It is growing all the time and becoming more educated, conscious and politically active.
Let us trace the growth of the Soviet working class since 1928 when the USSR had 8.5 million workers, or 12.5 per cent of the employed population. By 1939--1940, as a result of 272 industrialisation the working class numbered 22.8 million, i.e., 32.5 per cent of the working population. In the course of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966--1970) alone, the number of workers increased by eight million so that by the beginning of 1971 they made up 55 per cent of the employed population. The numerical growth of the working class is continuing in the ninth five-year plan period.
Nevertheless, the working class plays the leading role in the system of socialist social relations not only because of its numbers; its revolutionary spirit, discipline, organisation and collectivism have turned it into the vanguard of the social forces, and it is consolidating this position as it increases its general culture, level of education and political activity. The growth of the cultural level of the working class is convincingly shown, in particular, by the last two censuses. In 1959 there were 386 workers with a higher or secondary education per 1,000; in 1970 this figure was 550.
The reason why these and other qualitative changes in the working class merit very serious attention is that some people are inclined to believe that as the scientific and technological revolution continues to develop the intelligentsia will become the leading force of society because science plays an ever greater role in social production. It is true that the number of scientists, engineers, technicians is increasing in the Soviet Union and so is the scope of their activity. Yet it is the working class which has been and remains the leading social force for reasons we have already mentioned---consistency in building 273 socialism and communism, organisation and revolutionary spirit. One cannot fail to observe that it is in the course of the scientific and technological revolution that the working class, due to objective processes, turns into an increasingly important vehicle of scientific and technological progress and comes to play an increasing part in social relations.
Turning once more to the changes which take place in the worker in connection with the development of the productive forces, it should be noted that in recent years they have been occurring at an especially rapid pace. In 1925, for example, skilled and highly-skilled workers in the USSR comprised a mere 18 per cent of the total number of workers. In 1965, taking the 3rd and 4th ratings as the average level and the 5th and 6th ratings as a high level of qualification, workers holding these ratings comprised 65.2 per cent of the total. The scientist who comes to work at a factory with his plans, and the designer who creates new machines and equipment are ably assisted by the modern worker who no longer merely performs his job, but whose creative thought enables him to participate in the development of new machines and technology. Inventors and innovators from among the workers come forward with important ideas designed to speed up the development of production.
Finally, it should be noted that many industrial workers must have a higher education in order to cope with their jobs. A classical example is the operator of a walking excavator. Who is he? __PRINTERS_P_273_COMMENT__ 18---2052 274 Usually a worker with an engineer's diploma. As time goes on the educational and cultural level of the working class will rise, and that means that it is not losing its leading position in society but consolidating it to an ever greater degree.
In this connection sociologists made an interesting comparison between Pskov in the USSR and Jackson in the USA, towns with many common features. It turned out that in Jackson one out of every ten people worked and studied, and one out of every two in Pskov. Employed men (up to 25 years of age) in the USSR devote 1.3 hours a week to study, compared with 0.5 hour in the United States; as regards employed women they study 1.1 hours a week in the USSR and 0.1 hour in the United States. The mass education of workers combining study with work is a characteristic feature of socialist society.
There are convincing figures showing the high level of social activity of the working class in the USSR: workers account for more than 40 per cent of the CPSU members and for 36.5 per cent of the total number of deputies to local Soviets. Practically all workers participate in trade union activity.
The Report of the CC CPSU to the 24th GPSU Congress states: "The Party will continue to direct its efforts to securing the growth and strengthening of the influence of the working class in all spheres of the life of our society and to making its activity and initiative more fruitful.''
Soviet society's political foundation is the alliance of the working class with the peasantry. The 275 collective-farm peasantry is a large class and it, too, has not remained unchanged.
New machines and mechanisms, increasing consumption of electric power, application of chemical products are transforming agricultural labour into a variety of industrial labour, and the CPSU is taking steps to speed up this process. The building of large mechanised stock-breeding complexes, the founding of agricultural-industrial associations, the strengthening of inter-- collectivefarm links, the formation of mixed state- and collective-farm associations and enterprises are giving rise to substantial social changes whose principal content is the drawing together of the working class and the peasantry both as regards the substance of their labour and social status. The peasants' way of life is changing considerably and their cultural level is rising. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War only six per cent of the working people in the countryside had a higher or secondary education whereas at the end of 1970, over 50 per cent of the rural population had a complete secondary or higher education.
Of course, a great deal is yet to be done to further promote agricultural development on the basis of the latest technique. The improvement of living standards in rural areas also calls for unremitting attention. All this is important for the further economic development of the USSR and the solution of social problems in the countryside, primarily the programmatic task of drawing it closer to town.
The Soviet intelligentsia, whose numbers are __PRINTERS_P_275_COMMENT__ 18* 276 growing rapidly, is contributing in an ever increasing measure to the consolidation of a developed socialist society. This is a natural process engendered by the Party's policy of raising the cultural and educational standard of the people to a still higher level. A gratifying fact not only because it shows that the Party line is being carried into effect, but also because it proves that the state has every opportunity to continue its economic development.
To a great extent the Soviet intelligentsia, particularly the scientific and technical intelligentsia, is replenished from among the workers and peasants. The following fact was mentioned at the 24th CPSU Congress: at the Pervouralsk Pipe Works 42 per cent of the engineers and technicians were of working-class stock, 32 per cent of peasant stock and 26 per cent from the families of office employees. The situation is approximately the same at other industrial enterprises in the country. And this is further proof of the drawing together of the working class, the peasantry and the intelligentsia.
In its policy the CPSU takes into consideration the interests of such large social groups as young people, women and pensioners. The 24th CPSU Congress defined what should be done for these groups in the first place. Effective measures are being taken to improve working conditions for women and to lighten their household chores; the state is taking increasing care of children. For people of the older generation it is important not to worry about their security when they are no 277 longer able to work and to be assured that their knowledge and experience are used to the benefit of society. As regards the young people, their dream is to extend their activity and have a wider choice of occupations. The Communist Party and the Soviet Government take all this into account in their plans.
One of socialism's greatest achievements is the practical implementation by the Party of the Leninist nationalities policy. Its great triumph has been the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union as a state form of the fraternal alliance of many peoples. All Soviet nations and nationalities have the right and opportunities to develop. At the same time all nations and nationalities, while respecting one another's national features, are continuing to draw closer together.
The 24th CPSU Congress noted that a new historical community of people, the Soviet people, took shape in the country during the years of socialist construction. It is a hitherto unknown union of peoples, various classes and social groups, a union based on friendship and co-operation which appeared and became consolidated on the basis of socialism's great victories. The Soviet people are welded together by a common MarxistLeninist ideology and the lofty aims of building communism.
An economic complex organically embracing the economies of all the republics, territories and regions united by a single plan and the community of aims of socialist production has been established 278 in the USSR. An identical social structure, in which the working class occupies the leading place, and a single political system, whose guiding nucleus is the Communist Party with its international composition, ideology and policy, have taken shape in all the republics.
Soviet culture, whose single socialist content is expressed in a magnificent diversity of national forms, is making rapid progress. Alongside the free development of national languages, the Russian language is gaining country-wide recognition and is becoming increasingly widespread as an instrument of intercourse and exchange of spiritual values between nations.
All the socialist nations have risen to a higher stage of development. It may be said that the best national qualities and those features, which appeared as a result of the co-operation of the Soviet people, have merged in their way of life, in their ideological and moral make-up and psychology. Internationalist features play a leading role in the mutual enrichment and the flourishing of the nations.
All these facts clearly indicate that much has been achieved in the Soviet Union towards internationalising the way of life of various peoples in all the decisive directions of social development. The socio-economic, ideological, political, cultural and moral community of people---the Soviet people---is in a way the total result of the economic and socio-political changes which have taken place in the USSR in the course of nearly 60 years.
279From this historic fact it follows of necessity that the further burgeoning of Soviet nations can only proceed by way of strengthening this community, in conditions of their growing cohesion and also by drawing together and then harmoniously fusing the best national and common features in their way of life.
The decisions of the 24th CPSU Congress orientate the Party towards this policy line in the field of the development of nations and national relations. This line corresponds to the basic interests of the working people of all the Soviet republics and is in keeping with the objective principles of communist construction.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Strengthening of the Soviet State.The development of Soviet society is accompanied by the strengthening of its political organisation, the Soviet state, and socialist democracy. Having accomplished its great historical mission, the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat has overgrown into a socialist state of the whole people with the working class retaining its vanguard role. The CPSU is working purposefully on problems of socialist statehood and socialist democracy; and the 24th Congress has set specific immediate tasks in this field.
The organs of people's power---the Soviets of Working People's Deputies---are the foundation of the socialist state and the fullest embodiment of its democratic nature. Today the Soviets, 280 numBering over two million deputies, pass collective decisions on the basic problems of development of the whole of society, their republics, regions, cities and villages. Deputies take part in formulating these decisions as members of standing and ad hoc committees of Soviets. Committees are formed of competent people who are themselves interested in fulfilling the task assigned to their respective committees. If, for instance, it is necessary to solve a question concerning miners, the committee assigned to prepare a decision of the USSR Supreme Soviet or the city Soviet will inevitably include deputies who are professional miners; in just the same way collective farmers participate in committees of one or another Soviet whenever matters concerning collective farms are up for discussion. Every deputy is bound to report back to his electors on his work. And, of course, great importance is attached to the organising role played by the deputies in their constituencies, and to their direct work among the collectives in their cities and districts.
In recent years the rights of the local bodies of Soviet power---district, city, rural and village Soviets---have been extended, enabling them, for example, to exert a greater influence on the work of the enterprises and organisations situated in their territory. The material and technical basis of the Soviets has also been strengthened.
In its Report to the 24th CPSU Congress the Party Central Committee raised a question of the utmost importance for the further promotion of socialist democracy, namely, the pressing need 281 for a special law defining the status, powers and rights of deputies---from the Supreme to the village Soviets---and also the duties of officials with regard to deputies. Such a law has already been worked out and passed by the USSR Supreme Soviet. It enhances the authority of the deputies and enables them to exert a greater influence on all developments and processes taking place in the life of society, and more effectively to fulfil the mandates of their electors. At the same time the electors can place greater demands on their representatives in the Soviets and exercise more effective control over the way they utilise their possibilities to fulfil the tasks facing them.
In addition to the deputies, the Soviets have an army of 25 million activists, comprising about 10 per cent of the country's total population. It can be said with confidence that the successful work of the Soviets depends to an enormous extent on the initiative, activity, persistence and civic consciousness of each member of Soviet society. The improvement of the work of the Soviets is the concern of all Soviet people.
The CPSU attaches great importance to perfecting Soviet legislation, and the preliminary discussion of all the most important bills and the participation of millions of citizens in the elaboration of literally all laws have become common practice in the USSR.
The 24th CPSU Congress called for the further improvement of the work of the state machinery. The introduction of modern means and methods of administration begun in recent years and the 282 employment of computers provide conditions for a more rational organisation of the administrative apparatus, reducing its maintenance costs and personnel. Underlying the great service rendered by the employees of the Soviet state machinery in organising the creative activity of society, the Congress called for decisive actions against callous officials, bureaucrats and boors. It is necessary to expose such people and to achieve more efficiency in the work of the administrative apparatus.
``The way we see it,'' states the CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress, "efficiency in administration organically combines an attentive, solicitous attitude to the needs and cares of the working people with a prompt consideration of their applications and requests. An atmosphere of good will and of respect for man must reign in every institution.'' Great humaneness is one of the principal features of administration in socialist society. It is the duty of every official, whatever post he may hold and whatever specific tasks are assigned to him at any given moment, never to forget the most important thing: whatever is being done in Soviet society always furthers the interests of the people.
An important role in the system of Soviet socialist democracy is played by the organs of people's control, in whose work millions of factory and office workers and collective farmers take part. The Congress emphasised that the CPSU will continue doing everything to secure the steadfast implementation of Lenin's precepts as regards 283 constant and effective control by the broad masses over the entire development of production and society.
Working people in the USSR participate in the administration of society not only through state organs but also through a ramified network of mass organisations, the trade unions and the Komsomol in the first place.
Soviet trade unions embrace almost 100 million members, or practically the entire working class, the whole of the intelligentsia and numerous sections of rural workers. The trade unions play a major role in solving many problems of economic development---from the drawing up of state plans to the management of each enterprise.
Addressing the 15th Congress of Soviet Trade Unions, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev said: "One of the main features of the Soviet trade unions is that they directly and actively participate in promoting the development of the whole of society, boosting production and raising its efficiency and in managing the national economy.'' They also do a great deal to promote a communist attitude to labour and social property among industrial and office workers, satisfy the cultural and everyday requirements of working people and protect their health.
The 24th Congress once again made the point that the safeguarding of the legitimate interests of working people remains one of the basic tasks of the trade unions. They can do much to eliminate violations of labour legislation, improve safety 284 arrangements and the rating and remuneration of labour. On behalf of the workers they conduct negotiations with the administration and see to it that collective agreements are carried out to the letter.
Trade union activity has heightened perceptibly in connection with the economic reform under way in the country and also due to the fact that the labour collective---the principal production cell of society---is coming to play a steadily increasing role in the further enhancement of socialist democracy.
As the rights of enterprises are extended, the labour collective increases its influence on the organisation of production at its enterprise and on the distribution of its funds. It is also playing an ever greater role in drawing up plans for its own branch of production; its activity also influences the structure of the whole of social production. It uses its enterprise's social and cultural fund to finance the construction of housing, kindergartens, clubs and sports facilities, thus improving life in the entire town, or workers' settlement, not to mention the village. It is the field of struggle for stimulating the labour and social activity of Soviet people.
As the 24th CPSU Congress pointed out, the Party attaches great importance to strengthening socialist legality and law and order, and to educating citizens in the spirit of the rules of socialist community relations. Respect for law must become the personal conviction of every individual; this particularly applies to officials. No attempt to 285 deviate from, or to circumvent, the law, whatever the motive, is to be tolerated. Nor is it possible to tolerate any violation of the rights of individuals and infringement of the dignity of citizens. "For us Communists, champions of the most humane ideals, this is a matter of principle,'' it was noted in the CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress.
Questions of democracy are the crux of the ideological and political struggle between the socialist and the capitalist world. Bourgeois ideologists and revisionists try to impose their own ``ideals'' of democracy on the socialist countries and newly liberated countries, setting capitalist society as an example, a society where all the apparent ``freedoms'' are in the final count made to serve the interests of the ruling minority, primarily the interests of the big monopolists. This model does not suit the working people. Socialist ideals do not imply democracy for the minority, democracy in general, but democracy for the working people, i.e., socialist democracy. The meaning of socialist democracy lies in the participation of the masses in the administration of the state and all public affairs.
The development of socialist democracy is a complicated process consciously guided by the CPSU whose constant concern is that every person should feel that he is a citizen in the full sense of the word, a citizen interested in the cause of the entire nation and bearing his share of the responsibility. In order to solve this task it is of the utmost importance to promote the development of the individual, to change man himself, his 286 consciousness and to mould a citizen worthy of the new society. And here there is an intricate dialectical connection. Democracy can develop only given specific conditions and a definite level of social maturity; at the same time democracy itself is the condition of the successful activity of society and the development of the individual. The higher an individual's self-discipline the more fertile the soil for the improvement of society; and the faster society improves the higher the conscious discipline of the masses. This is a dialectic process inherent in socialist society alone and based on the unity of the economic and spiritual interests of the individual, the collective and society.
We have traced an intricate chain: man-- collective-society-man. Or: man-production-man. The success of production depends on the individual, while production in socialist society is conducted in the interests of the individual. Man is both the aim and the means of the evolution.
Soviet people can regard the following words of the founders of scientific communism as their motto: " `History' is not a person apart, using man as a means for its own particular aims; history is nothing but the activity of man pursuing his aims.''^^*^^
_-_-_^^*^^ K. Marx and F. Engels, The Holy Family, Moscow, 1956, p. 125.
[287] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER V __ALPHA_LVL1__ MOULDING OF THE NEW MANThe problem of educating a man of the future was a stumbling block for many progressive scientists prior to Marx. Fully aware that a new, communist society would be inconceivable without a new man, the great thinkers justly considered that the man of the future would be a harmoniously developed personality who would display a new attitude to labour and people and concern for the promotion of general welfare; he would have lofty spiritual requirements and would be free of the deceit, cruelty and prejudices of the old, bourgeois world. But in their dreams they came up against what appeared to them an irreconcilable contradiction. On the one hand, people are such as life makes them, and life in a society of private owners breeds bourgeois morality, base instincts, a psychology of avarice, and jungle laws in relations between people. On the other hand, it is these people who will have to build a new society, free of exploitation and oppression, to live and work in it and be guided in their activity by the loftiest standards of morality and justice.
288Failing to find effective ways of resolving this contradiction some of these thinkers pinned their hopes on enlightened reformers who would evolve perfect forms of human behaviour and simply present them ready-made to the people. Others thought that first it was necessary to improve the morality of the people and only then launch the construction of a new life. But both the ones and the others dwelled in utopia. The first because they wanted to change the life of the people without the participation of the people themselves, and the second, because they thought it possible to educate millions of people and rid them of the abominations of the old, capitalist world without uprooting it. In the history of social thought their theoretic conjectures are known as Utopian socialism.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Socio-Political PracticeWhat distinguished Marxism from Utopian socialism, Lenin pointed out, was that the latter wanted to build a new society not out of the human material produced by the sanguinary, vile, plundering, shopkeepers' capitalism, but out of uncommonly virtuous people bred in special hothouses and hotbeds. The real force capable of transforming society and people was, as Marx and Engels stressed, only revolutionary struggle illuminated by scientific theory, the participation of the masses themselves in building a new life. The founders of scientific communism arrived at the 289 most important conclusion that in order both to foster communist consciousness in the people and transform the old society, a mass alteration of the people is necessary, "an alteration which can only take place in a practical movement, a revolution. . .".^^*^^
Lenin, too, attached great importance to sociopolitical practice and the introduction of socialist ideology into the mass movement in promoting the education of a new man.
He insisted on this long before the October Socialist Revolution: "Surely there is no need to prove to Social-Democrats that there can be no political education except through political struggle and political action."^^**^^
He emphasised the enormous educational impact of socio-political practice after the October Revolution, too. Only when the proletariat "learns, not from books, not from meetings or lectures, but from the practical work of government ... it will constitute a force which will brush away capitalism and all its survivals as easily as straw or dust".^^***^^
He wrote that only in practical matters would the working people begin to learn by their own experience how to build socialism and create a new social discipline.
These Marxist-Leninist precepts provide the key _-_-_
^^*^^ K. Marx and F. Engels, The German Ideology, Moscow, 1968, p. 87.
^^**^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 4, p. 288.
^^***^^ Ibid., Vol. 28, p. 420.
__PRINTERS_P_289_COMMENT__ 19---2052 290 to a scientific understanding of the essence of education: it must steadily improve and perfect the means of ideological influence, daily and consistently involve the working people in direct and vigorous socio-political activity and thus enable the masses to gain their own political experience, which is essential for the development of lofty socialist consciousness, of high ideological qualities.By changing the world man also changes his inner make-up. Let us recall the great lines from the revolutionary anthem of the working class L'Internationale:
``No God, no king, no politician Will win for us a better day; So let us drop the old tradition, Forge weapons for the coming fray-----"
With their own hands the working class, the working people of Russia accomplished the great revolution, smashed the bourgeois-landowner system and then built a developed socialist society.
Gradually the revolutionary struggle and socialist construction emancipated man not only from economic exploitation and social oppression, but also from egoism, knavish baseness and iniquity which society based on private ownership had implanted in the hearts of people over the centuries.
Therefore the great history of the October Revolution, of the labour heroism of the five-year plans and the stern ordeals of the war, is also the history of the birth and the education of the new 291 man. It was in the struggle for the triumph of the great ideas of the October Revolution that the Soviet character, the character of a revolutionary, a conscious worker, a staunch soldier and humanist, was moulded.
After the war a note was found in the ruins of the Brest Fortress which the German troops subjected to a long siege in 1941. It read: "There were five of us: Serov, I. Grutov, Bogolyub, Mikhailov, Selivanov. We have fought our first battle. 22. VI. 1941---03.15 hours. We shall fight to our death!''
There were five of them, but behind them stood millions. The whole Soviet people rose to a sacred war against the nazi invaders.
The Soviet character has manifested itself to the full in peacetime too, at top-priority construction projects, at factories, on collective- and statefarm fields, in spaceships and on state borders.
The Soviet character is an alloy of such superb qualities as dedication to the communist cause, socialist patriotism and internationalism, conscientious labour, a high sense of public duty, vigorous social and political activity, intolerance of exploitation and oppression and of national and racial prejudices, and class solidarity with the working people of all countries.
A questionnaire circulated by Soviet sociologists contained, among others, the following question: what feature of the Soviet character can be considered the most important? "A sense of responsibility for the homeland, for its future,'' replied Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, Twice Hero of the 292 Soviet Union V. A. Shatalov. "Soviet patriotism,'' wrote Hero of Socialist Labour, initiator of the patriotic Stakhanovite movement A. G. Stakhanov. "Internationalism,'' replied veteran Party member F. N. Matveyev who took part in the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917. The socialist system and the Leninist Communist Party brought up generations of people with a high level of political awareness and thorough ideological grounding, a sense of collectivism and comradeship, Soviet patriotism and proletarian internationalism. This world of feelings of the Soviet man is deeply expressed in Alexander Tvardovsky's forceful lines:
``I love this world, great and demanding;
In it, my country's son am I.
I share her vision of ascending
To chosen summits in the sky.
I'm with her on the long, long journey,
No burden is too hard for me.''
What is it that moulds the Soviet character which has absorbed the entire wealth of revolutionary, fighting and labour traditions of the Soviet people? It is the Soviet, socialist way of life and communist ideology.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Soviet Way of Life---A new, Soviet way of life has developed and sunk roots in the USSR since the establishment of Soviet power. Already today 293 socialism's socio-political and spiritual values have far surpassed all the past achievements of mankind. By contrast in the advanced capitalist countries with their relatively high standards of consumption, capitalism has been unable to solve fundamental social problems and millions of people there live in poverty and fear of unemployment.
Capitalist society is dominated by spontaneous laws of social development. They break and cripple millions of human lives, inevitably generating an atmosphere of despair and gloom. The monopoly bourgeoisie exploits and deliberately cultivates these sentiments, for it needs morally impoverished people who have lost all hope for the future, and seeks support for its ideology among those who lack moral principles. Man--- the creator of modern civilisation---becomes a tiny cog in the giant business machine. The production of moral cliches, the moral degradation of society are an inalienable element of capitalist reality.
Socialism, which is a splendid example of a humanistic society, shows the working people of the non-socialist world the only road towards progress, facilitates their class struggle against capitalism and imperialism, and makes the communist ideals, the ideals of revolutionary humanism, even more attractive. Humanism is an intrinsic part of the Soviet way of life. It is embodied in the new system of social values created by socialism.
Today not only theory but also the practice of building a new world provides an answer to the 294 question as to what Marxist humanism and the socialist way of life are. Socialism and communism is Marxist humanism in action.
The process of socialism's growing over into communism shows that the main objective of the new world is, to quote Marx, "the development of human strength'', i.e., of the human personality, the attainment of complete welfare and free development of all members of society. It is socialism that combines the satisfaction of people's material requirements with the development of human abilities and spiritual values. The socialist world outlook and way of life reject both the bourgeois cult of money and things, which leads to moral impoverishment and reduces the wealth and fullness of human life to material well-being, and the haughty indifference to the people's essential requirements under the false banner of ``revolutionariness'' so characteristic of the various forms of petty-bourgeois socialism.
We find it necessary to place special emphasis on the latter circumstance also because some ``revolutionaries'' allege that concern for the welfare of the working people is tantamount to revisionism, a departure from Marxism-Leninism. The following two quotations show Lenin's view on these questions. Countering petty-bourgeois praters he emphasised that "the question of a higher standard of living is also a question of principle, and a most important one".^^*^^ Developing this thought he wrote: "The masses are drawn _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 18, p.
295 into the movement, participate vigorously in it, value it highly and display heroism, self-sacrifice, perseverance and devotion to the great cause only if it makes for improving the economic condition of those who work."^^*^^The socialist way of life is based on the principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his work''. Under socialism social progress sheds its antagonistic nature; its fruits are no longer at the disposal of only a select circle of people, but of all members of society whose sole suzerain is labour. All people are obliged to work, and all have a single source of spiritual enrichment and material welfare.
In socialist society labour ceases to be a strictly personal affair, a source of existence; it becomes a social act which moulds and educates man himself.
Humanism which is inherent in the socialist way of life is vividly expressed in concern for all members of society. The fundamental socio-- economic and political transformation of society has changed the entire system of human relations. The great poet and humanist Vladimir Mayakovsky dreamed of the time when "the earth would respond to the first call: `Comrade' ''. Under communism society will be governed by the humanistic principle "man is to man a friend, comrade and brother''.
Socialist humanism is complete equality of all nations, the fraternal friendship of peoples. _-_-_
^^*^^ Ibid., p. 85.
296 Internationalism and revolutionary humanism are inseparable. This was underlined in his day by Frederick Engels who wrote: "By virtue of their nature, the proletarians are en masse free of national prejudices and all their spiritual development is essentially humanistic and anti-- nationalist. The proletarians alone are capable of putting an end to national isolation, the awakening proletariat alone can establish brotherhood between different nations."^^*^^ Lenin spoke of this with the utmost clarity: ''. . .we are out-and-out internationalists and are striving for the voluntary alliance of the workers and peasants of all nations."^^**^^Relations of comradely mutual assistance and co-operation appeared and are developing in socialist society where millions of working people awakened to creative activity in the economic, political and spiritual fields.
Speaking of the all-round development of the personality as a most important principle of humanism, we must stress that the person's inner qualities depend on the wealth of social relations in which he participates. But even in Soviet society a great deal depends on the individual himself. He can lock himself up within the confines of his strictly personal and sometimes egoistic interests, or he can make his spiritual world rich and variegated like the society in which he lives and works. And the wealthier the inner content _-_-_
^^*^^ K. Marx, F. Engels, Werke, Bd. 2, S. 614.
^^**^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 195.
297 of a person the more he gives to society, the greater his concern for social interests and the more interesting his life. Soviet society is vitally interested in the all-round spiritual enrichment of all working people, for creative activity depends on the mind, labour, initiative and abilities of millions upon millions of people.Realising that all the gold in the world cannot stop the growth of the influence of communist ideals, bourgeois ideologists vilify Soviet society, its policy, ideology and morality. They portray the communist world as one in which humane feelings are allegedly censured as "old-fashioned reactionary sentiments''.
But their efforts to asperse the ideals of the Soviet people are futile. Humaneness is an inalienable moral feature of the builders of the most humane social order in the world. Under socialism, the man of labour---the creator of all the material and spiritual wealth---is himself the greatest social value. The Soviet way of life fosters lofty moral and political qualities in people, builds new relations between them and creates new moral principles which promote the communist cause and make mankind even more humane. Unfettered labour, the entire socio-political atmosphere in Soviet society mould high civic qualities in all Soviet people: the realisation that they are the masters of their land and personally responsible for the common cause.
The fulfilment of the decisions adopted at the 24th CPSU Congress will offer fresh and convincing proof that socialism, and socialism alone, is 298 the system under which personal, collective and nation-wide interests merge in a single torrent. The Ninth Five-Year Economic Development Plan, which reflects the vital interests of the Soviet people, and the capability of socialism to ensure the growth of material and cultural benefits for all members of society reveal the superiority of the new system in the socio-economic and cultural fields, in its way of life. Socialism has become synonymous of humane social development.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Creative RoleEven if our enemies did acknowledge that we achieved miracles in the development of agitation and propaganda, Lenin wrote shortly after the revolution, this should not be understood outwardly that we had many agitators and expended a great deal of paper, but inwardly that the truth which was in this agitation was driven into the heads of all. And there is no getting away from this truth.
Socialist ideology---Marxism-Leninism---carries the full strength of this truth. In days of jubilation and national calamities, in periods of peaceful labour and the grim years of war, the Party's true word was a tocsin which inspired the Soviet people and helped them to surmount all difficulties and obstacles.
Socialist ideology gives a scientific, realistic and comprehensive understanding of the world in its
299 complexity and contradictoriness. "We must not create illusions or myths for ourselves; this would be entirely incompatible with the materialist conception of history and the class point of view,"^^*^^ Lenin wrote.Socialist ideology teaches people to see the world as it is and as it should be. It discloses the connection between historical periods, asserts unity of word and deed, thought and action, and makes human activity purposeful.
``The great advantage of the Communists and generally of all politically conscious citizens of our society,'' said General Secretary of the CG CPSU Leonid Brezhnev, "is that they have a sound understanding of the substance and direction of social development and clearly see the objectives that the country has set itself and the road along which we are travelling."^^**^^
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels performed a scientific feat by creating the revolutionary ideology of the working class. Marxism became the first teaching in the history of social thought to place ideological problems on the sound foundation of a scientific analysis of social facts and class interests.
Lenin emphasised on more than one occasion that socialism, being the ideology of the class struggle of the proletariat, is subject to the general conditions of the rise, development and _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 8, p. 450.
^^**^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, p. 81.
300 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/FPS559/20071205/399.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.12.05) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ consolidation of ideology, i.e., it rests on the entire wealth of human knowledge, presupposes a high level of scientific development and requires scientific research.The creation of the revolutionary ideology of the working class was preceded by all-embracing critical work of the mind directed at assimilating all the spiritual values accumulated by mankind, without which socialism, as a scientific ideology, could have never come into existence. The scientific nature of proletarian ideology presupposed a most careful attitude to progressive spiritual heritage of the preceding epochs. "Marxism,'' Lenin wrote, "has won its historic significance as the ideology of the revolutionary proletariat because, far from rejecting the most valuable achievements of the bourgeois epoch, it has, on the contrary, assimilated and refashioned everything of value in the more than two thousand years of the development of human thought and culture."^^*^^
Like Marx, Lenin maintained that socialist ideology was " 'in its essence critical and revolutionary'. And this latter quality is indeed completely and unconditionally inherent in Marxism."^^**^^ This means that socialist ideology is a creative ideology which will not endure stagnancy of thought and which is continuously enriched by new conclusions and premises corresponding to the changing reality.
It is this kind of ideology which is capable of _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 317.
^^**^^ Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 327.
301 being a reliable guide in the revolutionary struggle and the building of a new society.The revolutionary-critical spirit of socialist ideology finds its practical expression above all in such features of the Soviet way of life as uncompromising assertion of socialist ideals, a clearly defined ideological content, unequivocal social positions, and irreconcilable opposition to bourgeois ideology and all forms of man's spiritual enslavement. This revolutionary-critical spirit calls for active intrusion into life, continuous practical self-verification of the results achieved and the ability to surmount difficulties and obstacles.
The Communist Party has always encouraged an innovatory, Leninist approach to the study of complicated social phenomena. Therefore, boldness of thought is just as essential for a Marxist scientist as courage for a soldier in battle.
Lenin believed that ideology should give a complete picture of our reality, precisely formulate the actual process and meet scientific requirements, that it was "impossible 'to study the real state of affairs' without qualifying it, without appraising it from the Marxist, or the liberal, or the reactionary, etc., point of view!"^^*^^
Since these appraisals depend on the class interests of people, they can be very different indeed.
A Marxist class approach has nothing in common with arbitrary assessments. Such an approach and such appraisals are called subjectivistic. The _-_-_
^^*^^ Ibid., Vol. 19, p. 123.
302 objectivistic approach, which is widely employed by bourgeois scientists and propagandists and which on the surface seems to be the direct opposite of the subjectivistic one, ignores class and concrete historical aspects. What appears to be an unbiased portrayal of events and phenomena is in fact one-sided, for only those are mentioned which are advantageous to the bourgeoisie.Bourgeois ideologists are particularly anxious to evade the question: who benefits from one or another turn of events? For instance, thousands upon thousands of pages have been written in the West about the assassination of US President John Kennedy, complete with innumerable details including even the way his wife was dressed at the time of the murder. But at the same time the monopoly press shies away from discussing the political motives behind the assassination and offers no explanation why violence, bribery and killings are so widespread in the social and political life of bourgeois society. And so thousands of minor details are used to lend a semblance of credibility, to divert attention from the principal social reasons whose disclosure is not in the interests of the monopoly bourgeoisie.
In contrast to both the subjectivistic and objectivistic approaches to reality, the Marxist approach is based on a strictly scientific analysis of social development and expresses the class positions of the workers. Such an approach presupposes the disclosure of social antagonisms and social contradictions, ascertainment of society's motive forces and the main trends of social progress, and 303 all-round consideration of class interests. Marxism, Lenin wrote, "demands of all serious policy . .. that it be based on and grounded in facts capable of exact and objective verification".^^*^^ It is essential that views on social phenomena should be based on an absolutely objective analysis of reality and actual development.
Conducting their propaganda and agitation among the masses Party organisations in the USSR adhere to scientific views on history, on the basic problems of the times. This enables them to arm the working people with an advanced ideology capable of guiding them in the impetuous torrent of life.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Development of the ConsciousnessLenin taught that the development of people's consciousness remained the basis and the main content of all ideological work, and the task of educating and persuading the people would always be one of the main problems of administration. These instructions disclose the role played by ideological work in the life of the Party and in the guidance of social processes; they define its content---the development of the consciousness of the masses, its task---the education of people, and its method---persuasion.
There are many aspects to ideological work. _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25, p. 291.
304 The CPSU studies life and on this basis develops revolutionary theory, propagandises communist ideals, organises the working people for the solution of specific tasks of economic and cultural development. To study, propagandise and organise---such is the three-in-one task of ideological education.Ideological and educational work is focussed directly on man, on his consciousness, and actively influences the formation of the people's world outlook, their views and sentiments. That is why the CPSU attaches so much importance to it in all sectors of communist construction, whether in production, economy, science and culture, everyday life or leisure of the people. Ideology examines all social phenomena from the standpoint of their impact on the consciousness, behaviour and psychology of the people.
Marx, Engels and Lenin devoted profound attention to socio-psychological phenomena. This enabled them to draw up a precise programme of political action and on its basis build up Party propaganda and agitation.
A major task of the ideological work is to combine lofty ideals with everyday matters, and programme targets with the solution of concrete dayto-day problems in all spheres of life. The approach to the solution of this problem differs with each successive stage of revolutionary struggle and socialist and communist construction. The reason is obvious: every fresh stage in social development is not a copy of the preceding one, but always has many new features in the economy, 305 technology and culture, in the entire mode of life, and consequently, in the substance and forms of ideological and educational work. It is a matter of the greatest significance that all this should be taken into account in propaganda and agitation which must persuade the individual by influencing his mind and feelings, so that he would act in conformity with the requirements of socialist ideology and communist morality and thus live up to the demands of the times.
A person can ``learn'' ideas, but if they do not become his inner conviction, a stimulus to practical activity, such a person is not a fighter, but a phrase-monger, a prater whose "ideological convictions" go no deeper than the tip of his tongue. This gives rise to the question: how can the effectiveness of education, of propaganda and agitation be gauged? ''. . .By what criteria,'' Lenin wrote, "are we to judge the real 'thoughts and feelings' of real individuals? Naturally, there can be only one such criterion---the actions of these individuals. And since we are dealing only with social 'thoughts and feelings', one should add: the social actions of individuals, i.e., social facts."^^*^^ As Lenin saw it, the most dependable and objective criteria of the effectiveness of education, of ideological work are the social actions of individuals, their practical activity. And the most important criterion is the socio-political and moral atmosphere which took shape in the society as a result of the multifold activity of the CPSU, _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 1, p. 405.
__PRINTERS_P_305_COMMENT__ 20---2052 306 including its ideological and educational work. The practical results of the ideological and educational work find their concrete expression in diverse social phenomena and above all in the level of consciousness, organisation and responsibility of people, in their attitude to labour and public property, in the level of production standards and organisation, everyday life and leisure, in the improvement of affairs in all sectors of communist construction. __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE 24th CPSU CONGRESSIn its Resolution on the CC Report, the 24th GPSU Congress set the task of making the " propagation of Communist ideals and of the concrete tasks of our construction more active and purposeful''.
Soviet society has reached a stage of development when the level of consciousness, scientific knowledge, thought, behaviour and attitude to labour are increasingly influencing the growth of the productive forces and the further improvement of social relations. In other words, spiritual factors are speeding up Soviet society's advance towards communism to an ever increasing extent, and the heightening role of the consciousness factor in modern conditions is manifesting itself more and more as a regularity of the development of the communist formation.
The 24th CPSU Congress gave all-round consideration to the question of promoting the 307 spiritual activity of Soviet society. Judging by the profound treatment of ideological and educational matters in the CC Report, the attention they received in the speeches of the delegates and the decisions passed by the Congress, it is clear that the Party attaches enormous significance to the moulding of the new man.
Such serious attention to problems of education, to questions of ideology and ideological work is a traditional feature of the CPSU and Leninism. It conforms to one of the basic principles of socialist society, namely: "A great project---the building of communism---cannot be advanced without the harmonious development of man himself. Communism is inconceivable without a high level of culture, education, sense of civic duty and inner maturity of people just as it is inconceivable without the appropriate material and technical basis."^^*^^ In this way the CPSU once again underlined the importance of ideological and educational work for the fulfilment of its programme. It invariably connects all problems on which it is working, whether in the fields of foreign policy, economy, social development, culture and education, with educational issues and draws on the enormous potentialities inherent in the Soviet social system, in its ideology, morality and way of life.
The reason is clear: the more diversified and dynamic is the life of society and the greater the tasks which have to be resolved, the higher are _-_-_
^^*^^ 24th Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1971, p. 100.
__PRINTERS_P_307_COMMENT__ 20* 308 the demands of the human personality and the greater the need for knowledge, conviction, and creativity ot the masses, for their unity and purposeful activity. "The very essence of communism,'' noted GG GPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, "is determined by the fact that citizens are politically conscious to a high degree, have a sense of responsibility to society and possess other lofty moral qualities. That is why the education of all citizens in the spirit of social consciousness is one of the cardinal components of the building of communism."^^*^^ __ALPHA_LVL3__ Specific Features of IdeologicalRelying on the gains of socialism, the CPSU has set the task of further promoting the all-round development of the individual.
As it goes ahead with this task the Party does not rely on objective factors alone. Indisputably, the moral and political make-up of Soviet people is moulded by the entire socialist way of life, by the entire course of affairs in society. The 24th Congress also paid attention to the fact that in many ways the moulding and education of the individual depends on purposeful, manifold ideological activity.
The Congress underlined that the magnitude and character of production, technological, _-_-_
^^*^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Fiftieth Anniversary o[ the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, p. 79.
309 economic and social tasks facing Soviet society, the entire course of social development, call for a substantial enhancement of the role played by spiritual factors and, consequently, for the further promotion of all forms of ideological work. This means that the content, forms and methods of propaganda and education should be brought in line with the enhanced social experience of the working people, their political activity, level of culture and education.Therefore, it is of primary importance to raise the efficiency of ideological and educational work, to make it more purposeful, concrete and businesslike. "Our cardinal task in this sphere,'' said Leonid Brezhnev at the 24th CPSU Congress, "is to be able really to convey our ideological conviction in full to the masses, and approach the work of the communist education of the Soviet man in a really creative manner.''
Ensuring the continuity of the development of Soviet society, the decisions of the 24th CPSU Congress channel the energy of the Party, of all working people, towards effecting major changes in all spheres of human activity. This calls for greater initiative and a new attitude to work. It often happens in our dynamic age that specific knowledge, experience and traits acquired in the past suddenly become obsolete and ineffective, a circumstance which calls for a prompt psychological reorganisation, ability to appraise life realistically, bring one's knowledge up to date with the least possible delay and display the highest initiative in all matters. In the epoch of the 310 scientific and technological revolution each ought to perform his job with a knowledge of the achievements of scientific thought.
Inertness of thought, adherence to formulas lagging behind the rapidly changing reality inhibit the necessary changes and diminish their effectiveness. No less detrimental is the other extreme---impatience and subjectivism, the desire to translate into practice immature ideas, or those lacking a thorough scientific grounding.
It is, therefore, most important to develop in all working people a profound understanding of the content and nature of the present-day tasks, mature and flexible thinking and an innovatory, creative attitude to labour in all fields. That accounts for the greatly enhanced role and responsibility of ideological work. Of course, the difficulties of present-day life differ from those in the preceding periods of the country's history. They spring in the first place from the fact that today it is necessary to solve tasks of unprecedented magnitude and scale. Life forges ahead surmounting contradictions and difficulties. And although in terms of the society as a whole their nature is not antagonistic, they are often fairly serious and not painless. There is much to be surmounted, especially in the sphere of consciousness.
The complexity of the problems which need to be solved becomes infinitely greater in view of the fact that the Soviet people are building communism in conditions of an acute ideological struggle between the two world systems. All major 311 world events, wherever they occur, in one way or another have an impact on the life of Soviet people and on their consciousness. Bourgeois propaganda is doing its utmost to present them in a distorted light, and the advocates of revisionist ideas, wittingly or unwittingly, are helping it in its efforts. Historical experience shows that any underestimation, however small, of the danger of bourgeois ideology and revisionism is impermissible.
In modern conditions ideological work should above all thoroughly assess the situation with all its complexities and contradictions, anticipate the possibility of negative influences on the formation and development of socialist consciousness and block the way to these influences.
The 24th CPSU Congress creatively solved such topical questions of ideological work as, for example:~
the relationship between the principles of the socialist way of life and the means of education in fostering communist education, and unity of economic and ideological and political work;~
the role played by ideological-educational methods in solving economic and socio-political problems;~
socialist interests and communist ideals of the working class as a basis for further strengthening the unity of the Soviet society;~
ways and means for actively determining material and spiritual requirements, the system of social values;~
312further development of socialist labour incentives;~
the interconnection between the growing level of culture and education and the need to improve its methods and forms;~
the enhancement of the role of the working collective in all spheres of human endeavour; the collective as a medium where the personality is moulded, as a social link connecting the interests of the individual and society as a whole;~
the enhancement of the role of political information in public affairs, especially in ideological activity.
The 24th CPSU Congress developed and concretised the tasks in the sphere of communist education of the working people set forth in the CPSU Programme.
Now ideological and educational work is being conducted in a developed socialist society where conditions are favourable both for moulding the new man and for promoting socialism's ideological offensive in the world arena.
This situation conducive to the intensification of political and ideological work has been engendered by the entire preceding development of the Soviet state. A factor of especial importance has been the consolidation and development of the moral and political atmosphere which took shape in the Party and the country following the October 1964 Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee---an atmosphere of cohesion, efficiency and comradely mutual understanding, solicitude 313 for the people and trust coupled with a high degree of exactingness and integrity.
The enormous work performed by the Party and the people in recent years has resulted in a substantial improvement in material welfare and further development of social consciousness. Positive changes are manifest everywhere.
Turning to the basic features of the present-day ideological and political situation, the following should be mentioned:~
the social activity, production and labour initiative of the working people have risen considerably, and socialist emulation for the fulfilment of the ninth five-year plan targets has attained wide scope;~
rapid changes are taking place in the socioclass structure of developed socialism; all classes and social groups are drawing together at a swift pace, the moral and political unity of all nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union, the unity of the new historical community---the Soviet people ---has become stronger still. Soviet people observed the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union with a great upsurge in political activity and fresh labour successes;~
the implementation of the Peace Programme advanced by the 24th CPSU Congress and the detente in international relations have created propitious conditions on the world scene for the creative labour of the Soviet people, for strengthening socialism's ideological positions in the world.
Such are some of the objective factors of the 314 situation in which ideological and political work is being conducted. And undoubtedly, this situation provides fresh opportunities for improving ideological work in very many fields and for moulding a communist world outlook, educating the people in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and socialist internationalism, strengthening socialist standards of social life and enriching the revolutionary traditions of Soviet society.
The 24th CPSU Congress noted that in recent years both Right-wing and ``Left'' revisionists had intensified their attacks on Marxism-Leninism as an internationalist teaching, on the general principles and history of socialism and especially on the leading role of the Communist Party. Bourgeois propaganda is extensively playing up all sorts of Right-wing revisionist and Maoist conceptions and technocratic theories. It is broadly forecasting a ``crisis'' of socialism and the communist movement and heroising all sorts of renegades.
As a result of this propaganda and due to certain other reasons, some men of letters have turned to the notorious ideas of ``deheroising'' the past and ``reinterpreting'' crucial phases of Soviet history connected with the victory and the nature of the October Socialist Revolution, collectivisation and industrialisation and the Great Patriotic War.
It also became clear that some people did not understand the positive results of the enormous work performed by the CPSU in recent years, especially after the Plenary Meeting of its Central Committee in October 1964, to surmount the 315 negative consequences of the personality cult and subjectivist errors, promote the Leninist standards of social and Party life and further strengthen the social and ideological unity of Soviet society.
All this diverted attention (regardless of the subjective intentions and motivations of their proponents) from the Party's constructive course and was harmful to the cause of communist education. The 24th CPSU Congress gave a clear and exhaustive ideological and political assessment of these phenomena. "Essentially,'' stressed the CC CPSU Report, "both these cases were attempts to belittle the significance of what the Party and the people had already accomplished, and divert attention from current problems, from the Party's constructive guideline and the creative work of Soviet people.''
The CPSU has always considered it most important to approach the historical past and present-day life from class positions, to make a Marxist-Leninist appraisal of the history of the multinational Soviet socialist state and wage a relentless struggle against bourgeois and pettybourgeois ideology. For the Soviet people it is both a question of their ideological principles and concern for the correct, communist education of the rising generations. The Party's documents marking the 50th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution, the centenary of Lenin's birth and the 50th anniversary of the USSR made up the ideological and theoretical foundation enabling Party organisations to unfold extensive work to foster socialist patriotism and 316 internationalism among the people and make a principled appraisal of any deviations from historical truth. The Party resolved both domestic and foreign policy issues because it firmly adhered to clearly defined ideological positions and conducted extensive ideological activity.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ FORMATION OF A COMMUNISTThe CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress points up that "the formation of a communist world outlook in the broad mass of the people and their education in the spirit of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism are the core of all ideological and educational work by the Party''.
The CPSU has made enormous headway in this direction. But in present-day conditions it is necessary more than ever before to foster a scientific, communist world outlook in the people. Communist construction is a deep-going process involving the broadest masses of the people, and as we have already noted, their level of spiritual development and culture, political and moral consciousness has an enormous impact on the whole of social practice, economy, production and everyday life. That is why it is most important that all Soviet people should have a scientific world outlook. This question is raised because of the increasing rate of social development and the rapidly changing economic and socio-political picture of the world. An acute class struggle is in 317 progress in the world. The volume of knowledge is increasing swiftly, scientific hypotheses and conceptions are being replaced by new ones, and the How of the most diverse information is mounting steadily.
In order to get his bearings in social phenomena in their entire complexity, to be able to distinguish between real and false values and to be a conscious ideological fighter and worker, a person has to have clear ideological guidelines.
A scientific world outlook is also the antipode of religious prejudices which still persist among certain sections of the population. Needless to say, these prejudices are gradually vanishing under the influence of the Soviet way of life, the enhanced culture, education and consciousness of the people.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Mastering Revolutionary TheoryIn all matters, whether economic, political, moral and ethical or cultural, the Communist Party invariably relies on the eternally living, developing Marxist-Leninist theory. In view of the dynamism and complexity of social processes there is an ever growing need for scientific provision. This means that the extent and significance of theoretical activity will continue to increase. This is essential for further progress, for without revolutionary theory there is no revolutionary practice. The CPSU could not have guided the people along the road of socialist and communist construction if it did not rely on the great 318 strength of the revolutionary theory of Marxism-- Leninism.
The 24th CPSU Congress noted that the Party had activated its ideological and theoretical work and improved the Marxist-Leninist education of the Communists.
The CPSU directs its theoretical thought at further developing Lenin's ideological legacy, studying the vital problems of the advancement of Soviet society, communist construction and the world revolutionary process. Together with other Marxist-Leninist parties it has further elaborated the strategy and tactics of the anti-imperialist struggle and developed Lenin's teaching about the alliance of all revolutionary forces.
The CPSU's enormous theoretical work enriches its propaganda, ideologically equips the Communists and all Soviet people with revolutionary scientific thought.
In the course of the past few years much has been done to enhance the ideological education of the Communist Party members and non-Party Soviet citizens. The uniform system of Party study ensuring a consistent mastery of the MarxistLeninist theory and the CPSU policy has lived up to expectations. Millions of people are enhancing their ideological and theoretical knowledge at Evening Universities of Marxism-Leninism, study circles and political schools, under the instruction of a million-strong army of Party propagandists.
The founders of Marxism-Leninism stressed that ever since socialism became a science it had to be treated as such, meaning that it had to be 319 studied. Lenin maintained that a superficial study of revolutionary theory, the reduction of this "most serious, difficult and great work" to a mere memorisation of ready-made formulas and assessments, was disastrous and contradicted the very substance of a revolutionary world outlook.
Ideological steeling and communist conviction are the product of a long and intensive process of thinking, the study of revolutionary theory, the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin and Party documents. It was Lenin who said: "We should consult Marx.''
The practice of socialist and communist construction, and the key developments and processes taking place in the world most convincingly attest to the vital, revolutionary-transforming strength of Leninism---the revolutionary Marxism of our epoch. Each page of Lenin's works sparkles with his eternally living creative thought.
As we study Lenin's works we become cognisant of revolutionary dialectics in its entire depth and complexity as a teaching about development in its fullest form free of one-sidedness. By studying Lenin we master his method of analysing reality, his scientific approach to the solution of social problems, and learn to determine ways of accomplishing present-day tasks which are both innovatory and exceptionally complex.
Life today imposes special demands on theoretical grounding. Without profound and continuously expanding knowledge it is impossible effectively to solve practical problems, whether economic, cultural or educational. A thorough study 320 of theory is a tested means for successfully solving practical issues. Not without reason is it said that nothing is more practicable than a fundamental theoretical grounding.
In our day, when the volume of information is increasing at such a rapid pace, it is particularly important to be able to interpret the entire diversity of facts and developments from the standpoint of the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism.
A knowledge of the natural sciences, technology and culture does not of its own accord ensure mastery of the scientific Marxist-Leninist world outlook. It is necessary to mould this knowledge into a comprehensive system of views on the modern world. The learning by rote of various world outlook conceptions unsubstantiated by the latest knowledge is likewise far removed from the Marxist understanding of the world. That is why the CPSU regards political training and the enhancement of the educational and cultural level of masses as an organic whole; they should not be viewed separately, nor should they be placed in opposition to each other.
Undoubtedly, a thorough knowledge of Marxism-Leninism is essential for all, and particularly for the young people. In order to be able to build a new society, young people have to acquire a high degree of class-consciousness, firm character, perspicacity and a broad political outlook. And the best way they can do this is by studying Marxism-Leninism.
A deep study of this teaching which is important for all, the mastery of socialism's practice as 321 Lenin's school of building a new world are indispensable for the ideological education of the young people. It is impossible to become a conscious fighter for communism without an adequate ideological and theoretical grounding. It is also necessary to combine the acquired knowledge with practical activity. Knowledge becomes a force only when it has passed the rigid test of social practice, when it is implemented in big and small matters, when it becomes a firm conviction which nothing can shake.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The MouldingSocialism has reared generations of people who dedicate their strength and minds to the cause of communist construction, who are steadfastly consolidating and developing the internationalist principles of Soviet society resting on the unity of socialist economy, politics and culture. The Party has always worked to form the internationalist Soviet way of life, to educate the people in the spirit of friendship and fraternity. "It stands to the Party's credit,'' Leonid Brezhnev underlined, "that millions upon millions of Soviet men of every nation and nationality have adopted internationalism---once the ideal of a handful of Communists---as their deep conviction and standard of behaviour. This was a true revolution in social __PRINTERS_P_321_COMMENT__ 21---2052 322 thinking, and one which it is hard to overestimate."^^*^^
Patriotism and internationalism are organically fused in the make-up of the Soviet man. All citizens of the USSR, whatever the republic they may be living in, are children of a single socialist Motherland, and everything that has been created on their native land is the product of their labour. The various nationalities of the Soviet Union are members of a single multinational family which is known as the Soviet people.
United in a fraternal alliance, holding aloft the banner of proletarian internationalism, the peoples of the Soviet Union have covered a glorious road of heroic struggle and creative labour, of great victories and accomplishments. Generations have appeared in the country who experienced neither national oppression nor racial discrimination.
The 24th CPSU Congress pointed out that the Party attaches major significance to educating all working people in the spirit of Soviet patriotism, pride for their socialist homeland, for the great accomplishments of the Soviet people, in the spirit of internationalism, implacability towards manifestations of nationalism, chauvinism, national narrow-mindedness, in the spirit of respect for all nations and nationalities. Of fundamental importance for the internationalist education of the working people are the ideological-theoretical and _-_-_
^^*^^ L. I. Brezhnev, The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, pp. 34--35.
323 political conclusions contained in Leonid Brezhnev's report "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics''.It is quite natural that the CPSU should attach so much attention to these problems, for the multinational socialist society, the fraternal family of Soviet peoples are welded together by bonds of socialist internationalism and patriotism, a common socialist mode of life, common political principles and a single Marxist-Leninist ideology. Therefore, the CPSU has always adopted an uncompromising stand towards everything that is inimical to its internationalist ideology and policy, towards any manifestations of bourgeois nationalism.
In the Soviet Union there are no socio-class foundations for nationalism, but this does not mean that less attention should be paid to the internationalist education of the people. Nationalistic prejudices still crop up in tendencies to parochialism, idealisation of the past and desire to conserve or revive obsolete customs.
It should be remembered, the CPSU warns, that nationalistic prejudices, exaggerated or distorted national feelings, are exceptionally tenacious and deeply embedded in the psychology of politically immature people. They persist even when objective premises for any antagonisms in relations between nations have long ceased to exist.
The nationalities question is an object of an acute ideological and political struggle between socialist and capitalist worlds, between MarxistLeninist and bourgeois ideologies. Today, in __PRINTERS_P_323_COMMENT__ 21* 324 conditions of a sharp class struggle between the two systems, socialism's enemies are placing increasing stakes on nationalism. Resorting to all and any means in an effort to weaken socialism's positions, divert the attention of the working people in capitalist countries from the class struggle and suppress the national liberation movement, the imperialists foment racialism, preach Zionism and anti-semitism and strive to alienate the various detachments of the working class on national grounds.
Reactionary forces are endeavouring to implant nationalistic views into the minds of the peoples of the socialist countries, too, and use nationalism in an effort to undermine the socialist system. It should be borne in mind that as an ideology nationalism is exceptionally tenacious and imperialist propaganda spares neither strength nor means to revive and activate nationalistic conceptions and prejudices. Nationalism speculates on the idea of patriotism and strives to introduce a nationalistic spirit into it.
The Soviet man is proud of his land because of the socialist gains of the Soviet people, of their revolutionary, democratic, progressive traditions. From the culture of the past the Soviet people take only its democratic and progressive aspects, its genuine spiritual values, and reject everything reactionary with which the exploiting classes enslaved the toiling people and disunited them along national lines.
It follows, therefore, that all that is socialist and internationalist is patriotic in the opinion of the 325 Soviet people. As far as past history is concerned, they regard as patriotic everything that was revolutionary, democratic and progressive.
Socialist patriotism is incompatible with any manifestations of national narrow-mindedness and chauvinism. It embraces a new, internationalist content and transcends the bounds of national affiliation. The report "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" sets down the important conclusion that half a century after the formation of the USSR we can speak of the great sense of patriotism of the Soviet people, of the national pride of the Soviet man. This is a great, all-embracing feeling. It is immensely rich in content having absorbed all the finest accomplishments of the labour, courage and creative genius of millions of Soviet people---the labour achievements of workers and collective farmers, the outstanding discoveries of scientists, the immortal creations of the folk art of each of the fraternal nations. And the farther the Soviet people advance in the building of communism and the more diverse and stronger become the economic and cultural ties linking all the peoples of the USSR, the stronger and deeper will be the noble sentiment of the great community---the national pride of the Soviet man.
Any departure, whether conscious or unconscious, from the socialist essence of Soviet patriotism is a deviation towards bourgeois nationalism. And bourgeois nationalism and proletarian internationalism, according to Lenin, are not only two 326 opposite policies, but also two world outlooks.^^*^^ The time that has elapsed since Lenin wrote this did not and could not erase this difference. The Communists have a reliable weapon with which to counter nationalistic tendencies wherever they originate. Lenin made the point that in order to oppose nationalistic manifestations it is necessary to act from the position of proletarian internationalism. He always upheld the idea that the important thing was "not to `proclaim' internationalism, but to be able to be an internationalist in deed. . .".^^**^^ Leninism demands that Communists should know how to link each practical step with the basic interests of socialism, to "fight against small-nation narrow-mindedness, seclusion and isolation, consider the whole and the general, subordinate the particular to the general interest".^^***^^
All Communists, whatever their nationality, have a common internationalist duty.
Patriotism and internationalism are organically united in the minds of Soviet people. In order to educate patriots-internationalists it is necessary to educate people in the spirit of the inviolable fraternity of peoples, of respect for the working people of all countries and hatred for exploitation and oppression, in the spirit of class solidarity and fraternal mutual assistance.
_-_-_^^*^^ See: V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 20, p. 26.
^^**^^ Ibid., Vol. 24, p. 82.
^^***^^ Ibid., Vol. 22, p. 347.
327 __ALPHA_LVL3__ StrengtheningThe CPSU has always combined its entire activity to mould the new man with a high level of consciousness with efforts to foster and strengthen communist morality, which, as Lenin put it, enables man to rise still higher. Every aspect of ideological and educational activity, whether the fostering of Soviet patriotism and proletarian internationalism or a conscious attitude to labour and public property, is in effect moral and political education.
Soviet society is not unconcerned with how a person works and how he behaves in everyday life, in his relations with his comrades and other people. The Communist Party attaches fundamental importance to the moral education of the people, to the strengthening of the laws and rules of socialist community relations, and to educating all working people in the spirit of respect for socialist legality.
The Soviet social system asserts the dignity of the individual, the responsibility of the man and citizen. Having emancipated people from oppression and poverty socialism opened up the most propitious opportunities for the development of their moral qualities. "However,'' said Leonid Brezhnev, "all this does not mean that the political, educational and ideological tasks facing our socialist society have been carried out. It is no secret that to this day social sores, inherited from 328 the past and essentially alien to socialism, such as an unconscientious attitude to work, slackness, indiscipline, greed and various violations of the norms of the socialist way of life not infrequently make themselves felt.''
Full-blooded social and private life depends wholly on the strict observance of the laws of socialist community living, maintenance of strict discipline, efficient labour and cultural behaviour. Respect for human dignity, for the old people, for women, decorous behaviour, self-discipline and good taste are elementary standards of morality which are inherited and developed by the morality of socialist society.
In his work "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government" written as far back as 1918, Lenin disclosed the enormous social role played by the elementary rules of community living in the building of a new society. He showed that such precepts as "do not steal'', "do not be lazy'', "observe the strictest labour discipline'', "keep regular accounts of money'', "manage economically" are of the utmost importance for the entire nation. The consolidation of elementary norms of community living and moral standards, their practical implementation, according to Lenin, was directly connected with the loftiest ideals, with the transition of society to communist construction.
There is no democracy if there are no social norms, there are no rights if there are no duties, there is no freedom if there is no responsibility, no social discipline and organisation.
Any attempt to separate these issues, let alone 329 place them in opposition to each other, is untenable.
There is a saying: everyone to his own taste. That is true but only if tastes do not contradict the way of life, standards of morality and conceptions. But a man's tastes are not only his personal business but also a social one. One cannot live in a society without observing its social norms. That is why imperialist propagandists are going to such great lengths to instil the tastes prevailing in bourgeois society and its anti-humanitarian morals in the young people of the socialist and developing countries. For this purpose they play up sex, pornography, individualism, violence and dissipation, i.e., a life free of any moral norms and obligations to society. And this amoralism, repudiation of moral norms and ideals, is presented as a "contemporary mode of conduct" of a young person.
There is simple logic behind this: in its efforts to influence the tastes and habits of the younger generation, bourgeois propaganda seeks to modify their views, make them indifferent to social affairs and turn them into cynics and individualists whose behaviour would be motivated solely by selfinterest of the most dubious character. Soviet society not only argues against such tastes and ideals, if one may call them such, but fights against them because they are incompatible with communist morality, with the Soviet people's ideas of life values; it fights them in the first place by cultivating good tastes and publicly censuring bad ones. Therefore, the moral shaping of the individual 330 should begin as early as possible so that from his childhood days a person should be reared in the spirit of respect for people, in the spirit of comradeship and honesty, and be self-collected and upright. These simple norms of morality form a foundation for more complex moral principles. But if the foundation has a flaw, the result will inevitably be the moral undoing of the individual.
A most important and responsible role in the moral education of Soviet young people is played by the family, the school, Komsomol and Young Pioneer organisations, cultural institutions, propaganda organs, literature and art.
The living standard and the cultural level of the population are steadily rising in the USSR. People are now able to improve their diet, dress better and enhance their recreational facilities. Annually millions of families move into new flats. All conditions have been created for normal, healthy and vigorous activities.
Cases of anti-social behaviour, particularly alcoholism, are largely due to the still existing liberal attitude to these vices, which is incompatible with the dignity of the Soviet man, his moral principles and the entire way of life in the USSR.
In this connection let us recall a thought expressed by Marx who maintained that the consciousness of an individual degenerates under the influence of two factors which at first sight seem to eliminate each other: the first is when people see a crime but do not see the punishment, and the second, when people see the punishment bu* do not see the crime.
331Without doubt it is necessary to employ measures of compulsion against people still harbouring the survivals of the past in their minds and whose actions are socially dangerous. "Any display of weakness, hesitation or sentimentality in this respect would be an immense crime against socialism,"^^*^^ Lenin wrote. But he also pointed out that "laws alone are not enough. A vast amount of educational, organisational and cultural work is required; this cannot be done rapidly by legislation but demands a vast amount of work over a long period."^^**^^ Dwelling on the shortcomings in the struggle against anti-social behaviour, he wrote: "What hinders the fight against this? Our laws? Our propaganda? On the contrary! We have any number of laws! Why then have we achieved no success in this struggle? Because it cannot be waged by propaganda alone. It can be done if the masses of the people help."^^***^^
Lenin's approach to the struggle against antisocial acts was specified by the 24th CPSU Congress: "It is necessary to continue the struggle against what we call the survivals of the past in the minds and actions of people. This requires the constant attention of the Party and of all politically-conscious advanced forces in our society.''
In its decisions the 24th CPSU Congress emphasised the need more resolutely to direct the educational impact of the collective and of public opinion towards overcoming the survivals of the past in _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 411.
^^**^^ Ibid., Vol. 29, p. 179.
^^***^^ Ibid., Vol. 33, p. 75.
332 the minds and actions of people both in everyday life and at work. More often than not it is a person who shows no interest in public life and locks himself in a shell of egoistic interests who is beset with obsolete morals, prejudices and harmful habits.Today, when we talk about the need to fight against various negative social phenomena, against cases of anti-social behaviour we do not imply that they constitute a serious threat to Soviet society. But if nothing is done to counter them, they may lead to complications. Lenin noted that the fight against petty-bourgeois survivals in the minds of people is one of the most difficult aspects of the Party's educational work.
A decisive factor promoting the development of socialist consciousness, discipline and organisation, and the eradication of the survivals of the past in the minds of people, is the practical experience of the masses, the direct participation of the working people in management and their self-education and self-discipline.
Moral education has a direct bearing on spare time activity. In his speech at the 15th Congress of Soviet Trade Unions, CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev placed special emphasis on this fact: '',Marx used to say that free time is a gauge of social wealth. But free time can be regarded as genuine social wealth only when it is used to promote the all-round development of the individual, of his abilities, and thus to enhance the material and spiritual potential of the whole of society to a still greater extent. Socialism has 333 created the necessary conditions for this; it has given the Soviet man sufficient time for rest, for raising his educational and cultural level, promoting his health and physical strength, for bringing up children and other useful activities.''
Leisure is not a time for idleness, but a time which should be used for the maximum personal and social benefit. Therefore it is most important, especially for the young people, to learn to value time, to value every hour, for it is hard to make up for the time lost in one's youthful days.
When Sergei Lazo, a legendary hero of the civil war, was 21 he jotted down the following plan of study and spare time activity for himself: "First, a thorough acquaintance with mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, physics, chemistry ... a broad acquaintance with natural science in general. An acquaintance with jurisprudence and history. Russian and foreign literature. Study German, English, French. Correct mode of living ... two hours of physical work daily, physical exercises, cold-water rubdown; sleep eight hours, but not less than seven. Attend lectures, theatres, visit museums and picture galleries and libraries___ Absolutely no visitors during the day; not to spend all evenings with friends. Play chess, participate in public activities at the university; attend meetings without fail. . .. Dress modestly as befitting a student, but not too warmly-----At night---philosophy, poetry, art. Travel as much as possible. Sports: rowing, bicycling, motorcycling, swimming, gymnastics, skiing, and also photography. . . .''
334Free time is a priceless treasure which is granted to all. It is of the utmost importance that each person should utilise it to the best advantage. And this means that leisure should be used to extend knowledge and culture, to enjoy wholesome rest, to take part in interesting and useful activities.
Summing up it can be said that moral and political education is in fact education in the spirit of the moral code of the builder of communism which comprises the following principles:~
devotion to the communist cause; love of the socialist Motherland and of the other socialist countries;~
conscientious labour for the good of society---he who does not work, neither shall he eat;~
concern on the part of everyone for the preservation and giowth of public wealth;~
a high sense of public duty; intolerance of actions harmful to the public interest;~
collectivism and comradely mutual assistance: one for all and all for one;~
humane relations and mutual respect between individuals---man is to man a friend, comrade and brother;~
honesty and truthfulness, moral purity, modesty, and unpretentiousness in social and private life;~
mutual respect in the family, and concern for the upbringing of children;~
an uncompromising attitude to injustice, parasitism, dishonesty, careerism and money-grubbing;~
friendship and brotherhood among all peoples of the USSR; intolerance of national and racial hatred;~
335an uncompromising attitude to the enemies of communism, peace and the freedom of nations;~
fraternal solidarity with the working people of all countries, and with all peoples.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Struggle Against Bourgeois IdeologyThe present-day ideological struggle over key problems of our day and age is taking place along a broad front and in complicated conditions. The CPSU is consistently upholding the communist teaching, its internationalist character and the Leninist principles of socialist construction. This is vitally important, all the more so because both the ideologists of imperialism and Right- and ``Left''-wing revisionists have intensified their attacks on Marxism-Leninism in recent years. In these circumstances the fight against all forms of revisionism has acquired particular significance.
In our age many peoples and states standing at different stages of development have taken the road of social emancipation, and broad non-- proletarian sections are joining the working class in the anti-imperialist struggle. At the same time the complexity of the revolutionary process and the formation of a new society, the diversity of socioeconomic conditions, the limited political experience and views of various social groups and the influence of bourgeois ideology can create difficulties at certain stages of the liberation struggle and socialist construction. In these circumstances it is of the utmost importance to adopt clear-cut 336 ideological positions, for any "evasiveness, and shilly-shallying with regard to socialist ideology inevitably play into the hands of bourgeois ideology".^^*^^
Experience shows that it is precisely such "evasiveness and shilly-shallying" that breed all sorts of anti-Marxist, anti-Leninist conceptions, which, in spite of their outward diversity and dissimilarity, have a common class content. Ideologically, they are attempts to replace Marxism-- Leninism with social-reformist or social-chauvinistic theories. Politically, they are attempts to employ petty-bourgeois prejudices and nationalistic feelings to further anti-socialist objectives.
It is not the first time that Communists have to deal with similar ideological and political zigzags and vacillations. In their time Marx, Engels and Lenin waged an uncompromising struggle against bourgeois and petty-bourgeois distortions of scientific socialism. Marxism-Leninism developed and became steeled in clashes with bourgeois ideology, with Right- and ``Left''-wing opportunism, with liberal and ``ultra-revolutionary'' verbiage. Ever since the appearance of the working-class movement, Engels noted, the struggle had been systematically conducted along its three co-ordinated and interconnected directions: theoretical, political and practical-economic. Emphasising the fundamental significance of the conclusion formulated by Engels, Lenin wrote that scientific communism recognises not two forms of the great struggle of _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 6, pp. 173--74.
337 the working class "(political and economic)... but three, placing the theoretical struggle on a par with the first two".^^*^^Revolutionary Marxism's struggle against revisionism at the end of the 19th century foreshadowed the great class battles of the contemporary period. Socialism's historic victories were also great victories of Marxism-Leninism which radically altered the balance of forces on the world scene.
Together with fraternal socialist states, the Soviet Union has always advocated a lasting peace between nations and opposed the notorious cold war policy. But peaceful coexistence between socialist and capitalist countries does not imply a reconciliation between bourgeois and socialist ideologies.
The experience of the class struggle demonstrated the vitality and political farsightedness of Lenin's idea that any departure from the principles of proletarian ideology inevitably weakened the leading positions of the working class in the economy, politics and culture, and that underestimation of the Party's ideological work misled the working people politically and was used by socialism's enemies for launching a counter-- offensive against socialism. Therefore it is the duty of the Communists, of all working people of the socialist countries, to maintain unceasing revolutionary vigilance and resolutely oppose any manifestations of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas.
_-_-_^^*^^ Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 370.
__PRINTERS_P_397_COMMENT__ 22---2052 338``In the Party's ideological work,'' states the Resolution of the 24th CPSU Congress, "the main emphasis should be on the propagation of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism and on mounting a relentless offensive against bourgeois and revisionist ideology.'' The struggle against this ideology produces the best results when it is purposeful and creative in essence. The criticism of bourgeois attacks on the theory and practice of communist construction in the USSR becomes much more convincing if it is backed up by the vigorous creative development of social science and rests on Marxist-Leninist theory. That is how the 24th CPSU Congress posed this question.
Bourgeois ideologists are endeavouring to make the world believe that the scientific and technological revolution allegedly leads to the formation of what they call a hybrid society, when capitalism and socialism shed their basic distinctions. They claim that scientific and technological progress will make people give up their social and class ideals with the result that opposing ideologies will "die a natural death''.
Such sermons are accompanied by the most abominable slander of socialism and its principles and aims, and by unrestrained praise of the capitalist way of life.
Imperialism is mustering all its resources to stem the advance of socialist ideas, and bourgeois propaganda is doing its best to stupefy the minds of the toiling masses and enslave them spiritually.
The capitalist way of life and vigorous propaganda of amoralism breed an appalling avalanche 339 of crime and violence. The first to slip into moral degradation is a part of the young people. Bourgeois society which is so boastful of its wealth exposes its anti-humane substance to an ever increasing extent.
However, there is a spiritual force in the world which counterposes these ugly processes. This force is socialist ideology and culture which assert the civic dignity of the individual and the lofty responsibility of being a man and tell the world the truth about the Soviet way of life and socialism's great gains.
The communist ideals which the Soviet people are asserting are the most humane in the history of mankind. Yet it is necessary to fight for them, as for all other ideals, and to work long and hard in order to translate them into reality.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ WAYS AND MEANS OF EDUCATION __ALPHA_LVL3__ Mass Information and PropagandaThe CPSU has a great variety of means at its disposal with which to accomplish the ideological and educational tasks set by its 24th Congress.
Under the guidance of the CPSU the Soviets of Working People's Deputies, trade unions, the Young Communist League, various mass organisations and cultural and educational establishments are conducting extensive work in the sphere of communist education of the people.
Literature and art play an important and noble 340 role in shaping the world outlook of the Soviet man and his moral make-up.
It is impossible to promote the communist education of the working people and successfully combat bourgeois ideology without the wellorganised work of such key media of information and propaganda as the press, television and radio.
The press, television and radio embrace and mirror the entire diversity of social relations: the economy, politics, culture, way of life and international relations.
The Soviet press is an important instrument of cognising reality, a source and an effective means of disseminating objective information and a collective propagandist and organiser. Consequently, it influences the shaping of a person's world outlook and his appraisal of the reality and events, and draws millions of people into discussing and solving social problems.
Soviet propaganda and information organs are genuinely popular in character.
Radio and television are coming to play an ever greater role in the life of the country. The capacity of broadcasting stations has increased considerably in recent years, and the total length of TV transmission lines has more than doubled in the past five years, bringing TV programmes to the homes of almost the whole of the country's population.
By informing the country about the Soviet people's political, economic and social gains, their progress in science and culture, by raising topical problems, disclosing shortcomings and presenting 341 serious issues in a manner comprehensible to all sections of the population, the Soviet press, radio and television propagandise the Soviet way of life, and help the CPSU to educate a multi-million army of ideological fighters building a new society.
Adherence to Party principles, efficiency, truthfulness and close bonds with and reliance on the masses, such are the time-tested principles and traditions of the Soviet press.
The 24th CPSU Congress emphasised the need to expand and improve the system of information. The CPSU looks upon information as a key instrument for guiding economic and cultural development.
An extensive and effective system of information corresponds to the objectives which Soviet society seeks to attain and to those values which the Soviet social system asserts.
``Our idea,'' wrote Lenin, "is that a state is strong when the people are politically conscious. It is strong when the people know everything, can form an opinion of everything and do everything consciously."^^*^^
This opinion is especially topical today in view of the sharp rise in the cultural and ideological level of the Soviet people, the scale of economic and cultural development and the need to solve interconnected issues in their ever-increasing complexity. In this connection, alongside sciencebased and carefully considered solutions, there is _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 256.
342 an urgent need for conscious, active participation of millions of people in managing the affairs of society, on the one hand, and for capable guidance of their efforts, on the other.Moreover, the working people themselves, the production collectives, verify whether one or another decision is based on scientific premises, and supplement them by giving their opinion. In this way information is an important factor of the development of socialist democracy, an instrument for promoting communist education.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Role of theThere is no better teacher and educator than the socialist production collective. It is at industrial enterprises, construction sites, collective and state farms and offices that people acquire new, socialist qualities and enter into new relations. Soviet reality proves that Marx was absolutely correct when he said that "only in community with others has each individual the means of cultivating his gifts in all directions; only in the community, therefore, is personal freedom possible".^^*^^
The responsibility of each person to his collective, and the responsibility of the collective to each worker---such is an intrinsic feature of the Soviet way of life.
_-_-_^^*^^ K. Marx and F. Engels, The German Ideology, p. 93.
343A socialist collective is a unit where the success of the Soviet economic development plans is decided to a considerable extent, where people become accustomed to participation in management and where the finest moral and political qualities of the individual are fostered.
The development of the practice of social planning and the rich experience in this sphere accumulated by many enterprises have enormously enhanced the educational role played by the production collective. Social planning broadens the participation of the working people in management, organisation of labour and the promotion of culture and everyday facilities. It combines national economic plans with present-day realities and the potentialities of a production collective and shows the working people that the interests of society, the collective and the individual are closely linked. Thanks to social planning the masses are carried "forward with a clear and vivid perspective (entirely scientific at its foundations)".^^*^^
The production collectives bear great responsibility for the state of affairs in all spheres--- production, everyday life, education and culture. The extensive participation of working people in production management and the affairs of the collective is an earnest and an essential factor of the successful solution of the tasks facing the collective.
In its documents adopted in recent years, the _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 35, p. 435.
344 CPSU Central Committee underlined the need to ensure close connection between nation-wide tasks and the concrete tasks and affairs of a given collective and each of its members. For this to happen it is necessary to arm all working people with a knowledge of the Communist Party's economic and social policy, and to make each individual realise that his interests and those of the production collective and society as a whole are closely and inseparably connected. Only when the entire collective and each of its members are fully mobilised to solve the tasks facing the country, to probe for and utilise their reserves and resolutely surmount shortcomings, will it be possible to solve the problem of moulding moral and political qualities in the people.Such an approach encourages initiative and socialist enterprise. It is therefore most important to extend the democratic principles underlying the activity of the collective and systematically to draw the working people into discussing and practically resolving all key production, technical, economic, social, cultural and everyday issues. This purpose is served by workers' meetings, standing production conferences, collective agreements, and the activity of social organisations at enterprises.
A production collective also plays an important role in solving social problems, improving living and working conditions and safety techniques, raising the educational, economic and professional training of the workers and organising wholesome and interesting spare time activities.
345 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Unity of IdeologicalThe Communist Party's ideological and political work has always been closely bound up with its efforts to solve socio-economic problems. Just as the economy cannot exist without politics, there can be no communist education of the working people without their active participation in economic development, production and social life.
In its Report to the 24th Congress, the CPSU Central Committee made the point that cultural and educational work should be inseverably connected with economic and administrative activity and stressed that all workers should think about the educational impact of their economic and administrative decisions.
This is a most important proposition.
The Party regards the communist education of the people as the core of its ideological and educational work, a nation-wide task in which there are no minor details. Since the 24th Congress, the CPSU Central Committee has adopted a number of decisions, including "On the Further Improvement of the Organisation of Socialist Emulation'', "On the Improvement of the Economic Education of the Working People'', and "On the Participation of Administrative, Engineering and Technical Personnel of the Cherepovets Metallurgical Works in the Ideological and Political Education of the Members of the Collective'', with the view still closer to fusing economic and ideological and 346 educational work, further enhancing the creative initiative and activity of the masses, and promoting the growth of the ideological, professional and cultural levels of all Soviet working people.
Lenin ascribed great importance to Party decisions which provide exhaustive, systematic and precise answers to the most important questions. The documents adopted by the CC CPSU have translated the Congress's decisions on ideological and educational work into practical guidelines for production collectives. The CG CPSU resolutions are designed to raise the role played by Party organisations and production collectives in achieving a comprehensive solution of economic and educational problems. And since economic development is a matter of vital importance for hundreds of millions of people, the social and ideological and educational impact of the concrete results of economic management can hardly be overestimated.
Scientific organisation of labour, rhythmic work at enterprises, efficient organisation of emulation, the capability of the administrator and his relations with people are very important educational factors.
The principle of the unity of economic management and education is fully expressed in Lenin's premise that communism begins where rank-- andfile working people do their utmost to raise labour productivity and see to it that not a single pood (16 kilos) of grain, coal, iron and other products is wasted. Not only are good management 347 and thrift important for the economy, they are also great ideological and moral factors. However wealthy Soviet society may be, it will always display the greatest care for all that has been created by people's labour.
It is clear that thrift is both an important principle of socialist economic management and a sign of a highly conscientious attitude to labour and to its fruits. It follows, that in life itself economic problems are closely intertwined with moral and educational factors.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Socialist Emulation---School ofEach stage of Soviet society's development produces its labour heroes and specific forms of emulation. Many of the past forms of emulation still exist, but that does not mean that they have remained unchanged. A closer scrutiny of the content of the emulation and its origins at various stages reveals the distinction between them. Emulation for raising labour productivity and the effectivity of production and for enhancing the technical level of Soviet people on a mass scale is of particular importance today.
In its Resolution "On the Further Improvement of the Organisation of Socialist Emulation'', the CC CPSU noted that in present-day conditions emulation should be directed at the achievement of the most optimal correlation between socialist commitments and the production plan, at terminating the harmful practice of adopting 348 understated plans, at the fullest utilisation of production reserves.
Labour competition, labour rivalry, such is the essence of socialist emulation. Its success largely depends on the observance of Lenin's principles of emulation, i.e., all results should be made public and compared and assistance should be furnished to those lagging behind. In view of the scientific and technological progress, the profound changes in the economy and the character of labour, and the need for a comprehensive solution of production problems, it is often difficult for an individual worker to apply new methods of labour, achieve record production results, and so forth, without the participation of his workmates. In our day a great deal of value is placed on the experience of whole production collectives and not only on the experience of their foremost members. The significance of advanced experience has increased immeasurably and even a rise of only one per cent in labour productivity, or in the saving of raw and other materials and of working time, becomes a matter of mounting importance.
Yet, in view of the fact that in the age of the scientific and technological revolution advanced experience very rapidly becomes outdated and its ``lifespan'' decreases sharply, it is absolutely essential to popularise the achievements of the innovators and leading workers as broadly and swiftly as possible.
In its Resolution the CC CPSU regards correct guidance of socialist emulation as a matter of the 349 greatest importance. It stresses that the commitments undertaken by the working people should mirror their initiative and experience, encourage them to display their creative abilities, make better use of reserves and potentialities and adopt intensive plans.
The participation of all the working people in drawing up socialist commitments, controlling and checking their fulfilment and summing up the results of the emulation helps to promote the growth of labour productivity and fuller use of reserves, and also to develop democratic principles of the emulation and the enlistment of ever broader masses in production management.
Schools of communist labour have proved to be very effective in drawing the working people into socialist emulation and the movement for the communist attitude to labour. In these schools the ideological and political education of the workers, collective farmers and office employees is combined with the study of advanced production experience and the fundamentals of socialist economic management.
In our day the need for moulding social consciousness is also imperatively dictated by economic factors. Scientific and technological progress imposes the highest demands on the individual, both on his professional training and on his labour discipline, precision and organisational efficiency. Lacking these qualities it is impossible to tackle the extremely complicated problems raised by life itself.
350In order to fulfil the set plans, Lenin wrote, it is necessary to find in ourselves sufficient consciousness, ideological firmness and selflessness.
Ideological and educational work bolsters the economic programme of the CPSU, and mobilises the inexhaustible energies inherent in the Soviet man---a dedicated fighter, worker and builder.
[351] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER VI __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE WORLD SOCIALIST SYSTEM __ALPHA_LVL2__ FORMATIONThe victory won by the workers and peasants of Russia in October 1917 and the successes of the Soviet Union in building a new life showed all the peoples the way to social and national emancipation and inspired them to fight against capitalism. But for a long time the working people of other countries were unable to bring this fight to a victorious conclusion. The only people's democratic system to be established soon after the October Socialist Revolution was that in Mongolia in 1921. The revolution in advanced capitalist countries, about which Marx and Engels had dreamt, did not take place. The world bourgeoisie suppressed the revolution in Germany, drowned in blood the young Hungarian Republic and brutally crushed revolutionary action in other countries. Nevertheless, reactionaries could no longer reverse the course of history.
A decisive battle between imperialism's most reactionary forces and the new social system--- socialism---was fought in the course of the Second 352 World War. In the hope of regaining lost positions, the imperialist reaction for many years nurtured plans of war against the USSR and of achieving the restoration of capitalism in Russia. Nazi Germany in alliance with fascist Italy and imperialist Japan undertook to carry through these plans. The imperialists also wanted to recarve the world, seize foreign territories, suppress the mounting working-class and democratic movement in capitalist countries and smash the Communist parties which headed the struggle for peace and social progress. These insane plans fell through. Rising to the Great Patriotic War the Soviet people in a hard and selfless struggle, jointly with its allies, smashed the main forces of world reaction ---the nazi invaders and their imperialist accomplices.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ People's DemocraticThe victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War paved the way for the victory of people's democratic and then socialist revolutions in a number of capitalist countries. How did this happen?
In the beginning of the Second World War nazi Germany seized the countries of Central and Southeast Europe. The Japanese imperialists held sway over a number of Asian states. The German and Japanese invaders tried to destroy all remnants of democracy and freedom and implant the fascist order in the occupied countries.
353Headed by the working class and Communists the working people rose to the war against nazism and Japanese militarism. This national liberation struggle especially gained in strength when the Soviet Army drove the German fascist invaders out of the USSR and began liberating other states occupied by nazi Germany.
The Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War and the rout of the Japanese imperialists created favourable conditions for people's democratic and socialist revolutions. Having thrown off the nazi yoke with the help of the Soviet Army, the peoples of Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Albania, Hungary and Rumania, led by the working class and its MarxistLeninist parties, launched a struggle for liberation from capitalist exploitation.
After taking power into their own hands the working people first nationalised the industry, dealing a decisive blow against the bourgeoisie inside each given country and putting an end to the domination of foreign capital. The nationalised industry which became the property of the whole people formed the material and production basis of the new, people's democratic system. Agrarian reforms were launched and land was given to those who tilled it.
As a result of the radical social changes in town and country socialist revolutions were successfully accomplished in the European People's Democracies---Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania and Yugoslavia.
In 1949 the German Democratic Republic was __PRINTERS_P_353_COMMENT__ 23---2052 354 proclaimed in Eastern Germany. It carried out democratic reforms and also joined the family of socialist states.
The rout of German fascism and Japanese militarism and the emergence of new socialist states created conditions for the consummation of the people's revolution in China. Under the guidance of the Communist Party the working people of China in the course of several decades persistently fought for emancipation from exploitation by the national and foreign bourgeoisie and landowners. In the autumn of 1949 the Chinese revolution was accomplished and the People's Republic of China was formed.
Radical democratic reforms were also carried out in North Korea. After the Soviet Army liberated Korea from the Japanese invaders the Korean people took power in the north of the country, where the Korean People's Democratic Republic was proclaimed in 1948.
The liberation of Vietnam from the Japanese invaders was also marked by the establishment of a democratic republic. It was headed by the patriotic forces which had selflessly fought against the Japanese invaders during the war. For nine years following the end of the war the Vietnamese people had to fight arms in hand for their freedom against the encroachments of the French colonialists. In 1945 the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established in the north of the country.
The People's Republic of China, the Korean People's Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam took the road of socialist 355 construction. And so in the middle of the 20th century a community of socialist countries---the world socialist system---emerged in the world.
In 1959 revolutionary Cuba became the first country on the American continent to fall away from the capitalist world.
The victory of socialist revolutions in several European and Asian countries and in Cuba is the greatest event in world history since October 1917. Socialism, which first won in the Soviet Union, developed into a world social and economic system.
``The emergence of socialism beyond the bounds of one country,'' said Leonid Brezhnev in his report "Fifty Years of Great Achievements of Socialism'', "and the establishment of a system of socialist states marked a sharp turn in world development. This victory weakened the forces of imperialism still more. It instilled in the hearts of the masses greater confidence in the Tightness of socialism and the invincibility of its great ideals. New conditions for a further upswing of the revolutionary and liberation struggle, for all democratic movements arose in the world under the influence of living and developing socialism and the magnetic force of its example."^^*^^
Since their emergence more than a quarter of a century ago the socialist countries have carried through the most profound social changes and _-_-_
^^*^^ L. I. Brezhnev, Following Lenin's Course, Moscow, 1972, p. 42.
__PRINTERS_P_355_COMMENT__ 23* 356 accumulated vast experience of socialist construction. This experience is instructive and is of world historic importance. __ALPHA_LVL3__ General LawsThe development of socialist countries shows first of all that in spite of the fact that each one of them made its own way towards socialism, the very transition to the new social system and also socialism's development into a world system are the result of a law-governed historical process. This process---the transition from capitalism to socialism---is the main content of our epoch.
In the course of historical development peoples become more and more convinced that the capitalist system has no future. Mankind's genuine progress is connected with socialism and it is Marxism-Leninism that shows the only correct road to socialism for the peoples of all countries and continents.
Socialism's enemies have expended a great deal of strength and means in their efforts to undermine the working people's trust in socialism and communism. They tried and are still trying to prove that Marxist-Leninist teaching about socialism is inapplicable to industrially developed countries. But the experience of Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic has disproved these assertions. Bourgeois propaganda has also claimed that socialist revolutions are 357 impossible without world military conflicts. The example of Mongolia and Cuba has disproved these fabrications, too.
Thus history has shown in practice that in our time any nation, regardless of the level of its economic development, size of territory and population, can take the path of socialism.
The process of socialist transformations in all countries is governed by a number of general laws:~
leadership of the working people by the working class and its core, the Marxist-Leninist Party, in carrying through any form of proletarian revolution and in establishing one or another form of the dictatorship of the proletariat;~
alliance of the working class with the bulk of the peasantry and other sections of the working people;~
abolition of capitalist property and the establishment of public ownership of the basic means of production;~
socialist reorganisation of agriculture;~
planned development of the national economy aimed at building socialism and communism and raising the living standard of the working people;~
accomplishment of socialist revolution in ideology and culture, and creation of a numerous intelligentsia devoted to the working class, the working people and the cause of socialism;~
abolition of national oppression and establishment of equality and fraternal friendship among the nations;~
358defence of the gains of socialism against the encroachments of both internal and foreign enemies;~
solidarity of the given country's working class with the working classes of other countries, i.e., proletarian internationalism.
The concrete historical conditions under which power was won and the transition to socialism took place in the Soviet Union differed from those in other countries. Nevertheless, in all countries the leading force of the revolution was the working class headed by its Marxist-Leninist Party, and its allies were the peasantry and other sections of the working people. The dictatorship of the proletariat was established in one form or another in all countries. In the USSR and other socialist countries economic development was based on the socialisation of the basic means of production. Many other transformations in other socialist countries were similar in character to those which had taken place in their time in the USSR. This means that general laws have an objective character and spring from the conditions in which the struggle for socialism is taking place.
Some of these laws remain in operation until socialist society has been built and not only in the transition period. Others arise in the course of the development of socialism. They characterise a more mature socialist society and the beginning of the transition to communism and include among others the creation of the material and technical basis of communism, the gradual growing over of socialist social relations into communist relations, 359 the obliteration of essential distinctions between town and country and between mental and manual labour, the extension of socialist democracy, and the growth of society's socio-political and moral unity.
The revolutionary struggle and the development of the socialist countries have shown that general laws play a decisive role in the building of a new life. Any disregard for or deviation from them inevitably poses a threat to the revolutionary gains and greatly harms the cause of socialism, the interests of the working class and all working people. China is a case in point.
So long as the Chinese leadership adhered to the fundamental principles of socialist construction and maintained broad international ties with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, the People's Republic of China successfully went ahead with socialist construction. The situation deteriorated sharply at the end of the 1950s when the chauvinistic line gained the upper hand in Peking and the Chinese leadership advanced the adventuristic objective of making a "big leap forward" and moving into communism within a short period of time. The Chinese leadership ignored the Marxist-Leninist tenet that it is impossible to build communism bypassing socialism. Neither did they take China's real economic possibilities into account.
Encountering the resistance of the Communist Party and the people, the Maoists routed the Party and the state apparatus and thus aggravated the crisis which gripped all aspects of life in 360 China. The Communist Party in effect ceased to play the leading role in society and the working class lost its vanguard positions. The dictatorship of the proletariat was undermined and the principles of socialist democracy were trampled upon. Nationalism and chauvinism became predominant in ideology and foreign policy and voluntarism gained the upper hand in economic management. All these factors perverted the course of socialist construction, seriously inhibited China's development and placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the Chinese people.
By deviating from the general laws guiding the transition to socialism and grossly violating the Marxist-Leninist methods of building a new society the Chinese leaders enormously harm the interests of the working people of China and undermine socialism's prestige on the world scene.
What Mao Tse-tung and his associates do and preach has nothing in common with MarxismLeninism, with scientific communism. But inasmuch as the Chinese leaders allegedly act in the name of socialism this leads to confusion in the minds of some sections of the revolutionary antiimperialist movement, especially in countries which still have to choose what path of social development they will follow.
The ideology and practice of the Mao Tse-tung group enable bourgeois propaganda to portray socialism as a society subject to tyranny and arbitrary rule, where the interests of the people and the dignity and rights of man are trampled and poverty lauded as the greatest virtue.
361The Czechoslovak Communist Party drew an object lesson from the political crisis which descended on the country in 1968, a lesson which disclosed the full extent of the danger arising from the violation of the common laws of socialist construction, notably the danger invited by the weakening of the leading role of the Communist Party and of the principles of planned economy. At the time Right-wing revisionist and anti-socialist forces tried to push Czechoslovakia off the highroad of socialist construction under the pretext of ``improving'' socialism. These perfidious plans were frustrated thanks to the vigilance of the Czechoslovak working class, the fortitude and integrity of the loyal forces in the Communist Party and the fraternal assistance of the socialist countries.
We know from history that any improvement and development of the political and economic system of socialist society should rest on a consistent creative application of the laws of socialist development.
Disregard for the collective experience of the socialist states and general laws as well as for national features under any and all pretexts inevitably tears the ruling party's policy away from life, from the actual requirements of social development.
In order to bring the working class and all working people to the victory of socialism, the Communist Party should be able correctly to apply the general laws to the concrete historical conditions in its country. General laws are not 362 cliches which can be mechanically applied to any country at will. In each country they manifest themselves in different ways and assume their specific forms.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Characteristic FeaturesThe experience of the socialist countries confirmed Lenin's words that all nations would come to socialism "in not exactly the same way, each will contribute something of its own to some form of democracy, to some variety of the dictatorship of the proletariat .. .".^^*^^
Real, living socialism has turned out to be more complex and diverse than could have been theoretically imagined several decades ago. The peculiarities of the ways and forms of socialist construction were determined by the differences in the histories, levels of economic development, degree of maturity of the working class and its vanguard, the spread of culture and education and in the national traditions of individual countries. Let us examine some of these peculiarities.
The October Socialist Revolution in Russia was accomplished by an armed uprising. After that the working people had to defend their revolutionary gains in a bitter struggle against internal and international reaction. The civil war and foreign intervention in Soviet Russia lasted nearly five years.
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 23, pp. 69--70.
363The course of events in the European People's Democracies showed that under specific conditions a socialist revolution can be accomplished in some countries without an armed uprising and in others without civil war. The peoples of China, Cuba and North Vietnam had to win power by force of arms, but the transition from the democratic to the socialist revolution was comparatively peaceful.
In its essence the socialist revolution is humane.
The proletariat does not regard armed struggle as an aim in itself, but as a forced measure against the exploiter classes which oppose socialist reforms by armed strength. In some countries which had taken the socialist path of development, reactionary elements made an attempt to regain their lost positions by force of arms. This happened in Poland where in the first post-war years the counter-revolution tried to unleash civil war, in Rumania where it also undertook armed action, and in Hungary where the bourgeoisie tried to recover its forfeited positions by an armed putsch. All these attempts failed.
There are also differences in the methods used to carry out social transformations. In the Soviet Union industry, transport and banks were nationalised immediately after the socialist revolution, but in the People's Democracies the basic means of production were socialised gradually. First the state confiscated the property of war criminals and those capitalists who had collaborated with the nazi invaders, and then carried out a stage-- bystage nationalisation of the other large industrial 364 enterprises, transport, means of communication and banks. In some other countries, owing to specific conditions, the state had to buy a part of the property from the capitalists. Wherever this happened mixed state and capitalist enterprises were established.
Why did people's democratic rule in some countries choose this way of socialist reorganisation? Was it unable to confiscate all the capitalist property and turn it over to the people? The experience of some countries showed that during the transition period it is more expedient under certain conditions to buy the property of the capitalists in order to make use of their means, knowledge and experience in production management in the interests of the people and the cause of socialism. The example of the GDR, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia and some other countries showed that the socialist reorganisation of a range of economic branches and improvement of the service industry required lengthy preparations and flexibility.
As in the Soviet Union, the decisive role in socialist reorganisations in the fraternal countries is played by the working class which leads the working peasantry. But here artisans, handicraftsmen, shopkeepers and other non-proletarian sections of the population take an active part in building a new life. In the final count the basic interests of these groups coincide with those of all working people.
As regards the rural bourgeoisie---the kulaks--- their liquidation in the People's Democracies did 365 not require any extensive administrative measures. In Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Rumania the kulaks were granted the right to join the cooperatives at a certain stage of agricultural co-- operation.
Enlisting various sections of the urban and rural bourgeoisie into political and economic activity the people's rule took into account their ability to shift to socialist positions only over a certain period of time. And since they did not counteract the assertion of the new relations, they were regarded as full-fledged members of society.
Of course, the enlistment of non-proletarian classes in socialist construction and the attempts to reach mutual understanding with them did not signify cessation or weakening of the class struggle. It continued, but its methods changed as coercion increasingly gave way to education and persuasion by example. This policy of broad class alliances guided by Communists yielded good results.
In the USSR the people voted that the Communist Party should be the country's sole ruling party. In the course of socialist revolution and the civil war only Lenin's Party consistently worked for socialism and peace, whereas all the other political parties sided with counter-revolution and imperialist reaction. The masses turned away from them and they had to quit the social arena.
A different situation took shape in other socialist countries. In some of them, alongside the Communist parties, other parties participated in reorganising society along socialist lines. Today these 366 parties in alliance with the Communists are actively participating in socialist construction. These countries have either biparty or multiparty systems.
Another characteristic feature of the transition of most European People's Democracies to socialism was that the dictatorship of the proletariat was established and consolidated with the aid of certain elements of bourgeois democracy---- parliaments and bourgeois-democratic laws. In these countries people's rule had no cause to resort to such drastic political measures as disfranchisement of the former exploiting classes.
And, lastly, unlike the Soviet Union, not all land was nationalised in the European socialist countries, in China and the Korean People's Democratic Republic. A large part of the land confiscated from the landowners, the clergy and war criminals was turned over to the landless and land-hungry peasants.
The experience of socialist construction is the common property of the socialist community, of the working people of all countries, and it is being enriched with each passing year. Complete socialism, which Lenin wrote about, is based on the aggregate experience of all countries, which includes the general laws and the specific features of the transition of different countries to socialism.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union always willingly shares its achievements in reorganising social life along socialist lines with its friends. At the same time it studies the experience of the fraternal parties and countries with 367 profound attention and interest and adopts all that corresponds to Soviet conditions and serves the cause of communist construction.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Socialist CommunityWhat is the system of socialist countries? In the first place it is a qualitatively new historical community of countries and peoples. History knows many short-lived and lasting associations and unions of peoples and states, but none of them can compare in character, strength and potentialities with the socialist system. Its very appearance promoted the rise of friendly relations among the socialist nations. The world system of capitalism appeared and developed in a vicious struggle among states in the course of which the strong subjugated and exploited the weak. The socialist system came into being and became consolidated with the Soviet Union's vigorous support for the young socialist states.
Socialism introduced a community of aims and ideals into interstate relations and its victory in the fraternal countries led to the establishment of a uniform social and state system, where power belongs to the working people headed by the working class. All these countries have established public ownership of the instruments and means of production and thus did away with exploitation of man by man. The aim of socialist production is to promote the happiness and welfare of the people. Marxism-Leninism is the common ideology of 368 the peoples of the socialist countries and the building of communism is their common historical objective.
Socialist countries are united by their struggle against imperialism, for peace and national independence, for securing international conditions favouring the construction of socialism and communism, and by their support for the communist and working-class movement.
All this creates the objective foundation for lasting, friendly relations between them.
The abolition of capitalist property and the establishment of socialist social relations eliminated the grounds for national enmity and national oppression and created conditions for the rise of the great socialist union of the peoples. Marx's prophetic words have come true: "In order to really unite the peoples must have common interests. In order that their interests should be common the existing property relations must be abolished, for the existing property relations mean exploitation of some peoples by others----"^^*^^
It follows then, that the world system of socialism is an historically shaped community of states based on one type of economic and political system, on the coincidence of the fundamental interests and aims of the peoples. It is a political and economic community of free and independent states united by bonds of socialist solidarity and proletarian internationalism.
The fraternal co-operation of the socialist _-_-_
^^*^^ K. Marx, F. Engels, Werke, Bd. 4, S. 416.
369 countries develops on the basis of common interests and aims and it is equally in the interest of both small and big nations. This co-operation guarantees the consolidation of each country's national sovereignty. It helps them to advance and surmount temporary difficulties and bring their socio-economic and cultural levels closer together.In contrast to the capitalist world where the more rapid development of one country aggravates the contradictions between states and intensifies their rivalry, the successes of each socialist country advance and strengthen the socialist system as a whole.
Unlike the economy of world capitalism which develops through a series of booms and depressions, crises and upheavals, the economy of world socialism develops steadily and more rapidly.
The capitalist states build their relations on might makes right. Imperialism grossly violates the general democratic principles of relations between countries, viz., equality, respect for state independence and territorial integrity, non-- interference in each other's internal affairs. In the socialist community these principles are not only fully observed, but are also enriched by fraternal friendship and mutual assistance. Proletarian internationalism has become a norm of interstate relations between the socialist countries.
In the socialist community there are no special rights or privileges: all countries, whether big or small, take into consideration their own interests and those of the other countries, of the socialist system as a whole.
__PRINTERS_P_369_COMMENT__ 24---2052 370The socialist countries are developing extensive economic relations. They closely co-operate in science, technology and culture and render each other diplomatic and military assistance.
Yet, it cannot be said that their co-operation is entirely smooth and unimpeded. There are some distinctions between the socialist countries and they have to surmount specific difficulties and contradictions some of which are engendered by objective causes and are connected in the first place with the fact that the members of the socialist community have different levels of economic development, different economic structures, different historical and cultural traditions, and so forth. In addition to a group of industrial states, the socialist community also includes agrarianindustrial and agrarian countries.
In some cases difficulties in the relations between the socialist states can be traced to subjective causes, to errors in the activity of the leaders of individual members of the community.
Another source of difficulties is the fact that the world socialist system is developing in a complicated international situation, in a bitter class struggle against imperialism. In their striving to inhibit socialist construction and the drawing together of the socialist states, the imperialists are counteracting the socialist world in every possible way. They try to foment nationalistic and other prejudices and sow dissension in the socialist community.
Although socialist states are united on the key issues, it does not mean that differences in views 371 and interests on certain questions of domestic and foreign policy may not arise between them at one time or another.
As it develops the socialist system sometimes comes up against survivals of the past due to the prolonged domination of relations of exploitation. Moreover, these survivals constitute the nutrient medium breeding recurrences of nationalism and other phenomena alien to socialism. As can be judged from events in China, these survivals are tenacious and capable of seriously harming the socialist community.
The fraternal parties are striving to surmount the contradictions in the relations between the socialist countries by joint effort and to prevent temporary divergence of interests and opinions from developing into fundamental differences. Provided parties and states follow the correct, MarxistLeninist policy, the coincidence of the basic interests and aims of the peoples of the socialist states enables them to surmount the existing contradictions and build their relations on principles of complete equality, mutual advantage and comradely mutual assistance.
The CPSU realistically appraises the situation in the world socialist system. It is aware of its great achievements and at the same time does not ignore unsolved problems. "The present-day socialist world ... is still a young and growing social organism, where not everything has settled and where much still bears the marks of earlier historical epochs,'' reads the CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress. "The socialist world is 372 forging ahead and is continuously improving. Its development naturally runs through struggle between the new and the old, through the resolution of internal contradictions. The experience that has been accumulated helps the fraternal parties to find correct and timely resolution of the contradictions and confidently to advance along the path indicated by Marx, Engels and Lenin, the great teachers of the proletariat.''
Together with other Marxist-Leninist parties, the CPSU is doing everything it can to enable the countries of the socialist community to co-- ordinate their activity in crucial spheres of social life to an ever greater extent, and to work out more effective forms of reaching joint solutions on questions of common interest.
The Soviet Union has greatly helped to consolidate people's rule in the socialist countries, to create an atmosphere of friendship and mutual respect in the socialist system. In line with their internationalist duty, the Soviet people are continuously assisting the nations which have taken the path of socialist development. Soviet power in Russia after the October Socialist Revolution could only rely on the moral and political support of the proletariat in other countries, whereas the working people of the People's Democracies have relied on the Soviet Union's powerful political, economic and military support.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Government are putting in a great deal of effort to enhance the cohesion of the socialist countries and strengthen the world socialist 373 system. On the initiative of the CPSU Central Committee, for example, socialist countries take decisions on most important questions of common interest after collective consultations. All this promotes the solidarity of the socialist countries.
At the same time it should be borne in mind that the formation of relations between socialist countries is a complicated process. There are two closely interacting lines in the development of the world socialist system. On the one hand, each socialist country relies on her manpower, material and spiritual resources and on the advantages of socialism as she strengthens her state independence and develops her own economy and culture; on the other hand, life leads the socialist countries towards ever broader co-operation and closer rapprochement. The harmonious combination of these two processes and the close co-ordination of national and international objectives are in the interests of both individual countries and of the socialist community as a whole.
The realisation of the common interests and aims of the socialist system promotes the fullest satisfaction of correctly assessed national interests, creates the best possible conditions for the flowering of each nation and for the all-round progress of each socialist country.
The content and forms of relations between the socialist states change in accordance with their social development, the international situation and the nature of the internal and external problems facing them. In the first years 374 after the victory of people's democratic revolutions the most urgent problems were military and political ones: defence of the socialist countries against imperialist encroachments and the strengthening of the shoots of the new social system.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ ECONOMIC CO-OPERATIONAs a result of the consolidation of socialism in the People's Democracies and the development of economic relations between them their military and political alliance was gradually supplemented with socio-economic co-operation.
The interaction and co-operation of the fraternal countries proved to be vital and highly fruitful. It goes without saying that in building socialism each country depends chiefly on her own forces, i.e., she uses the creative energy of her people and her material resources. Practice showed, however, that the best results are obtained when a country, while relying on her own forces, also uses the potentialities of the entire socialist system to build a new society.
It is economically unfeasible and even impossible for each socialist country to create all branches of industry and agriculture. Much more expedient is to use the advantages of the international division of labour and the possibility of obtaining diverse types of products and raw materials from other socialist states.
375The need for close economic co-operation between socialist countries is also dictated by the international conditions attending the building of socialism and communism. Today, when the historic competition between the two social systems is unfolding mainly in the economic field, such co-operation becomes a vital objective necessity. Multilateral economic ties enable each socialist country to stand up to the economic pressure from the imperialist states and their monopolies, make better use of her internal resources and assistance of the entire socialist system and thus greatly increase the pace and scope of construction of a new society.
The history of world socialism has proved that the successes of each fraternal country and the growth of the might of the entire socialist system are closely inter-related. The greater the economic, political and cultural co-operation of the socialist countries, the bigger are their successes in promoting industry, agriculture, culture and living standards. On the other hand, the greater the achievements of each country in socialist construction, the wider is the base for all-round cooperation and the stronger the socialist system as a whole.
As early as the very first years of their existence, the People's Democracies, thanks to their economic co-operation with the Soviet Union, were able rapidly to surmount difficulties in economic development caused by wartime destruction and disruption of traditional trade relations with bourgeois states.
376Economic co-operation among the socialist countries is based first and foremost on the international socialist division of labour.
Economic co-operation has many forms: trade, loans, credits, scientific and technical co-operation, co-ordination of national economic plans, interstate specialisation and co-operation of production, joint construction of large projects, co-operation in the fields of transport and finances. Its basic form is specialisation and co-operation of production within the framework of the socialist community. Taking into account their production specialisation, labour resources, available raw materials and other factors, socialist countries agree on what they will produce and in what quantities in order to satisfy their own needs and those of the other fraternal countries. In view of the extremely broad range of modern commodities a single country, let alone a small one, cannot produce everything she needs. Production of this sort would have had to be organised on a small scale and be very expensive.
Interstate specialisation makes it possible to concentrate production of similar goods in one or several socialist countries. Such a division of labour raises production, cuts production costs, heightens labour productivity and improves the quality of goods. At the same time it speeds up economic growth rates and promotes living standards in all socialist countries. Thus, economically less developed countries are able to industrialise their national economy at a rapid pace.
The economy of individual states does not 377 develop one-sidedly as a result of interstate specialisation and co-operation. On the whole their economies develop comprehensively despite the priority growth of some branches; they include such key industries as fuel and power, extractive, engineering, chemical, light and food, and also agriculture.
On the one hand, interstate specialisation and co-operation make it possible to avoid unwarranted duplication in the development of production and, on the other, to build enterprises large enough to satisfy not only domestic demands, but also those of other socialist states. By common agreement shipbuilding is concentrated in Poland, the USSR and Bulgaria; production of blast-furnace equipment in the USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia; oil equipment mainly in Rumania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia; equipment for cement factories in the GDR and Czechoslovakia; equipment for the leather and footwear industry in Czechoslovakia, etc.
At present interstate specialisation and co-- operation of the countries of the socialist community embrace the production of more than 3,000 types of machines and equipment. The GDR and Czechoslovakia co-operate in the production of cars and lorries; Czechoslovakia and Poland in the production of textile and agricultural equipment, metal-cutting machine-tools and building machines; Bulgaria co-operates with Czechoslovakia in the manufacture of buses, lorries, engines and transport equipment; the Soviet Union and Poland co-operate in the production of automatic 378 equipment, aviation hardware, tractors and farm machinery; the USSR and Yugoslavia are co-- operating in the manufacture of cars, building machines, tractors and other branches of engineering. The Soviet Union is successfully co-operating with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in the production of Lada passenger cars, and with Czechoslovakia, the GDR and other countries in the production of electronic computers.
The socialist countries are rendering each other technical assistance in the construction of industrial enterprises and organisation of production, and supply the necessary industrial and agricultural products and raw materials. More than 1,200 enterprises, factory shops and other projects have been built in the fraternal countries with Soviet economic and technical assistance, of which 120 were built in Bulgaria, 18 in Czechoslovakia, 20 in the GDR, 53 in Hungary, 167 in Mongolia, 99 in Poland, and 98 in Rumania. A fairly large number of enterprises and other projects were built with Soviet assistance in Albania, China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Korean People's Democratic Republic, the Republic of Cuba and Yugoslavia. Bulgaria produces about 60 per cent of her chemical output, 70 per cent of non-ferrous metals and more than 90 per cent of steel at enterprises which were built with Soviet assistance; Rumania generates 60 per cent of her total electricity output and manufactures 100 per cent of her synthetic rubber at enterprises built with the assistance of the USSR. The Soviet Union 379 supplies diverse industrial output to its friends on mutually advantageous terms.
In the first post-war years technical assistance to the fraternal states was rendered chiefly by the USSR, but now this is being done by other socialist states, too. Czechoslovakia is assisting in the construction of several enterprises in Mongolia; Poland is taking part in enlarging foundry works in Hungary and is helping Czechoslovakia build sugar refineries. Czechoslovakia and the GDR deliver rolling mill equipment to the Soviet Union; Rumania and Czechoslovakia supply the USSR with installations for oil refineries, Hungary supplies hoisting and material-handling equipment, and Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Poland---- equipment for the Soviet light industry.
The Soviet Union is not only the biggest supplier of raw materials and machinery to other socialist countries, but also the biggest buyer of their manufactured goods. During the preceding, eighth five-year plan period, the Soviet Union bought equipment for 54 chemical factories from the fraternal socialist countries. More than 38 per cent of the total tonnage of the Soviet merchant marine was built in socialist countries. They also deliver a large variety of consumer goods to the USSR.
One of the main objectives of the world socialist community is to surmount the historically formed differences in the socio-economic development of its members. The coming together of their levels of development gives the socialist countries enormous advantages; it makes it 380 possible to put an end to economic inequality and opens broad prospects for the development of the international socialist division of labour and all forms of co-operation.
The socialist community has made important headway in bringing the levels of economic development of its members closer to each other. Suffice it to say that in the past 20 years Bulgaria and Rumania have raised industrial production more than 11 times, while in the GDR and Czechoslovakia it rose five times. Economically backward in the past, the Mongolian People's Republic has become an agrarian-industrial state. With the assistance of the USSR and other socialist countries Mongolia has built up her own fuel and power base, a building industry, several large enterprises of the mining, building materials, light and food industries, railways and other transport means and modern communication lines.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Council for Mutual Economic AssistanceThe establishment in 1949 of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), which laid the foundations for the international socialist system of economy, was a major landmark in the economic co-operation between the socialist countries. The CMEA members are Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, the USSR. Cuba joined the Council in 1972. Yugoslavia has been participating in the work of some of CMEA bodies since 1964. 381 The Council's aims, principles, functions, powers and structure are set forth in its Charter: to unite and co-ordinate the efforts of its members, promote the planned development of their national economies, accelerate their economic and technical progress, raise the level of industrialisation of the industrially less developed countries and ensure the steady growth of labour productivity and the continuous rise of the standard of living. Cooperation of the CMEA countries is based on "The Basic Principles of the International Socialist Division of Labour''.
CMEA conducts its activity on the basis of socialist internationalism, respect for state sovereignty, independence and national interests, non-- interference in the internal affairs of member countries, complete equality and voluntariness, mutual advantage and comradely mutual assistance.
CMEA headquarters are in Moscow. Its principal bodies are the Executive Committee, the Standing Committees and the Secretariat.
With the establishment of CMEA the socialist countries switched from bilateral trade and credit relations to multilateral co-operation, and from an exchange of surplus goods and unilateral assistance to planned commodity exchange and coordination of economic plans. Such co-ordination is at present CMEA's chief method of activity.
Collective economic co-operation is most advantageous to the CMEA member countries. They have jointly built the world's largest oil pipeline Druzhba (Friendship) which carries oil from the USSR to a number of socialist countries in Europe. 382 As a result the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary have built a modern petrochemical industry. The second line of the Druzhba scheme has been completed; it links the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Beginning with 1975 this pipeline will annually carry nearly 50 million tons of oil to the fraternal countries. A gas pipeline of unique size is now under construction. When completed it will bring Siberian natural gas to Czechoslovakia, Poland, the GDR, Bulgaria and Hungary. A united power grid Mir (Peace) with an international control panel in Prague has been built. It links Bulgaria, the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania and the USSR. The resulting annual economy is equal to the cost of building a 600,000 kw power station. The member states have accumulated experience of co-operating in the extractive industries, transport and in collective financing of industrial projects. One large project is a cellulose factory which is being built in the vicinity of UstIlim in the Soviet Union with the participation of Bulgaria, the GDR, Hungary, Poland, Rumania and the USSR.
Increasing importance is attached to co-- operation in science and technology which are developing more effectively thanks to the united efforts of the socialist countries. Today several hundred Soviet and 840 research organisations of other socialist countries are jointly working on some 2,000 scientific and technical problems.
It has proved to be most advantageous to exchange information on the organisation of 383 production, and scientific and technical documentation. In the past 20 years the Soviet Union turned over more than 41,000 sets of scientific and technical documentation to CMEA member countries. More than 54,000 specialists from these countries visited the USSR to study its production experience. In this period the Soviet Union received more than 21,000 sets of scientific and technical documentation from the fraternal countries.
The International Bank for Economic Co-- operation, the International Investment Bank, the International Institute of Economic Problems of the World Socialist System, the Institute of Standardisation, the Ship Chartering Co-ordinating Bureau, Intermetal, and other international organisations of the socialist countries are developing and strengthening.
Today the CMEA countries are a powerful, steadily developing industrial-agrarian complex. In a single decade (1960--70) the CMEA countries, which account for 18 per cent of the territory of the world and 10 per cent of its population, increased their share in world industrial output from 28 to 33 per cent. In five years (1966--70) their industrial output rose almost 50 per cent.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Comprehensive Economic IntegrationThe rapid economic growth of the CMEA countries and their expanding economic ties have created conditions for promoting still closer 384 cooperation between their economies and uniting their resources and potentialities. Without all this the socialist countries would have been unable to develop at an accelerated pace in the new historical conditions.
The new tasks facing the socialist countries created the need for joint long-term planning of production in various branches, its more thorough specialisation and wider co-operation. In particular joint efforts were required to solve fuel and power and raw materials problems, since not all CMEA countries have sufficient natural resources. It was also vitally important to deepen their scientific and technical ties so that they could make the fullest use of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, including computer techniques, atomic power engineering, automatic production systems, and so forth.
Over the past several years the CPSU, other fraternal parties, and the highest state bodies of the CMEA countries have been concentrating their efforts on improving the forms of economic cooperation.
In 1971 the socialist countries united in CMEA adopted a Comprehensive Programme for the Further Extension and Improvement of Co-operation and the Development of Socialist Economic Integration. Designed to cover a period of 15--20 years it envisages the introduction of a system of measures in the spheres of production, consumption and foreign trade.
Having adopted the Comprehensive Programme, 385 the CMEA countries began to pool their scientific, technical and production resources in order to solve key economic problems.
Today co-ordinated planning is the main instrument used by CMEA countries to carry through their economic integration. It includes not only the co-ordination of national economic plans, but also the compilation of general forecasts, long-term co-ordination of plans, and the elaboration of joint plans for various branches of industry and types of production. For this purpose the CMEA countries have established international research institutes and designing organisations. The CMEA International Scientific and Technical Information Centre in Moscow is already functioning. The exchange of scientific and technical documentation is increasing and the joint training of scientific and technical personnel is being conducted on a broader scale.
The Comprehensive Programme not only envisages a gradual approximation and evening out of the levels of economic development of the CMEA countries, but also priority development of those members which due to historical causes were economically less developed than the others. For instance, a system of measures is being implemented to accelerate the economic growth of the Mongolian People's Republic.
The multilateral co-operation of socialist states harmoniously combines their national and international interests. Economically it is most advantageous to each country and the entire socialist community, for it results in an additional annual __PRINTERS_P_385_COMMENT__ 25---2052 386 economy of thousands of millions of rubles, speeds up technical progress, and so forth.
The development of economic integration deepens the international socialist division of labour. A modern structure of the national economies comes into being and there is a rapprochement of the national economies in the key branches of production, science and technology.
In the historical perspective all this should result in the establishment of a world socialist economy. The trend towards the formation of a single world economy regulated by a common plan, Lenin underlined, "has already revealed itself quite clearly under capitalism and is bound to be further developed and consummated under socialism".^^*^^
An earnest of the successful fulfilment of the Comprehensive Programme is the identical production relations in all CMEA countries, the sameness of their political systems and ideology and their common aim---the building of socialism and communism under the guidance of Marxist-- Leninist Communist and Workers' parties.
The economic integration of the socialist countries is a matter of vast political significance. It is an inspiring example of a new type of economic relations---voluntary, harmonious and equitable co-operation and mutual assistance of a large group of sovereign states. By strengthening the economic foundations of the socialist community, _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 147.
387 economic integration will go a long way towards consolidating socialism's positions on the world scene. __ALPHA_LVL2__ POLITICAL INTERACTION AND UNITYSince the great leaders of the proletariat Karl Marx and Frederick Engels proclaimed the slogan "Workers of All Countries, Unite!" the history of the class struggle, the entire course of the establishment and development of socialism proved beyond all doubt that political and ideological unity is the main source of strength of all fighters for socialism.
Born of the need to defend revolutionary gains, of the joint efforts to solve the most complicated internal and international problems, the political co-operation of the peoples of the socialist countries has become a key factor of the development and strengthening of the world socialist system, a factor of peace and progress.
The political co-operation of the socialist states has the following principal objectives: all-round mutual assistance in the building of a new society, exchange of experience in creative work, establishment of favourable international conditions for the construction of socialism and communism, their joint rebuff to the forces hostile to socialism, and the provision of all-round assistance and support for the liberation movement of the peoples.
By co-operating and interacting on the __PRINTERS_P_387_COMMENT__ 25* 388 political scene the socialist countries frustrate the aggressive designs of the imperialist states; they help achieve a lessening of international tensions and direct their efforts towards averting another world war and strengthening the cause of peace. To achieve these objectives they come forward with constructive proposals on disarmament and the termination of the arms race and actively participate in resolving conflicts occurring in various parts of the world.
Socialist countries exchange vital information, concert their foreign policies and resolutely support each other in international organisations. In the United Nations they actively participate in discussing universal and complete disarmament, prohibition of the means of mass destruction, eradication of the survivals of colonialism and the fight against racism, settlement of the Indochina and the Middle East problems, and other crucial issues.
In its activity the socialist community is guided by the principles of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. It is prepared to cooperate with the capitalist states on the basis of equality, respect for national sovereignty and mutual advantage and is promoting such co-- operation in the economic, cultural and other spheres. Socialist countries attach particular importance to co-operation with the capitalist and developing countries in the maintenance of international security.
At the same time the world socialist system is prepared to give a resolute rebuff to aggression 389 whatever its source. When necessary the socialist community uses its political prestige, its economic and military strength reliably to block the road for aggression and help the peoples who have been attacked to safeguard their freedom and independence. This peace-loving, genuinely internationalist policy has the wholehearted approval and support of progressive world public.
Since its establishment more than a quarter of a century ago the socialist system has developed a comprehensive mechanism of collective interaction of the fraternal parties and countries and evolved effective forms of co-ordinating their efforts in building socialism and communism and in foreign policy activity.
Negotiations and conferences on interstate relations and urgent problems of the contemporary international situation have become an important form of the political co-operation of the socialist countries. Their close contacts and exchange of views enable the socialist community to work out its political line, solve general and national problems and surmount the arising difficulties.
The vital significance of such co-operation has become particularly manifest in the course of the past few years which in many respects proved to be difficult ones for the socialist system.
In those years most of the socialist countries entered a qualitatively new period of social development, that of creating a developed socialist society and of solving the grandiose tasks that faced them. They carried out a deep-going reorganisation of the economy, introduced economic 390 reforms and re-equipped a large proportion of industrial enterprises with sophisticated machines and mechanisms. In order to accomplish all this the fraternal parties evolved a new approach not only towards the solution of their domestic political, economic and ideological problems, but also to the organisation of international co-- operation.
In the past decade the growth of the world socialist system was seriously handicapped by the aggressive encroachments of the imperialists upon the peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and the liberation movement in the Middle East. The situation called upon socialism to mobilise all its forces and to display restraint, courage and determination in order to organise a rebuff to the aggressor.
The imperialists in those years undertook a series of ideological and political subversions against the socialist countries in the hope of undermining them from within and weakening the socialist community.
The Soviet Union and its friends had to counter the onslaught of the imperialist forces at a time when the leadership of China, one of the two largest socialist states, renounced unity of action in the struggle against imperialism, adopted a policy of splitting the anti-imperialist front and began to act with undisguised hostility towards the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
In these difficult circumstances the Soviet Union steadfastly developed co-operation with the fraternal parties and countries and together with 391 other members of the world socialist system rebuffed imperialism's aggressive encroachments and made great headway in communist construction.
Discharging their internationalist duty, the CPSU and the Soviet people furnished all-round support to fighting Vietnam. The Soviet Union extended military and economic assistance to the fraternal Vietnamese people thus enabling the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the first socialist state in Southeast Asia, in the extremely difficult conditions of US imperialist aggression to strengthen its military and economic potential and to set up new sophisticated branches, including the air force and missile and anti-aircraft units, which together with the other units of the Vietnamese People's Army held their ground and dealt a powerful blow on the aggressors.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet people gave the Vietnamese patriots great moral and political support. Tens of thousands of various undertakings were organised in the USSR, including mass subbotniks and voskresniks, whose proceeds were turned over to the Vietnam Assistance Fund, and meetings and conferences at which Soviet people expressed their firm determination to support the cause of the Vietnamese patriots and condemned the US imperialists.
The CPSU and Soviet mass organisations actively participated in a number of international meetings in support of the Indochinese peoples. In this respect a prominent role was played by the 392 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties; it unanimously adopted a document on Vietnam which elicited broad response throughout the world.
With the support of the Soviet Union and other socialist states the heroic Vietnamese people scored major victories in their struggle for freedom and independence.
Thanks to the principled policy of the Soviet Union and other socialist states considerable headway was achieved in solving such an important issue as the strengthening of the international position of the German Democratic Republic---the bulwark of socialism on German soil. The fact that many countries established diplomatic relations with the GDR proves that Western imperialist circles failed in their attempts to ignore and isolate the German state of workers and peasants. This was a major victory of the German Communists, of all the working people of the GDR, a result of their courage and fortitude in the struggle for socialism. Moreover, this victory was also a result of the solidarity of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries with the GDR. The fraternal parties of the socialist countries drew up a concerted policy on this issue and its implementation produced the desired results.
The bonds of fraternal solidarity linking the Soviet Union and the Republic of Cuba have strengthened. Despite the unceasing provocations of the imperialist circles and Cuban emigrants, and the US economic blockade, Cuba is strengthening her economy, developing agriculture and industry and 393 steadily improving her system of public education and health. The Cuban people are building socialism with the assistance of the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist community. The CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet Government are consolidating fraternal co-- operation, Party and state contacts with Cuba and this yields positive results.
The Soviet Union's ties with the Korean People's Democratic Republic are continuing to develop. In their relations with people's Korea, the CPSU and the Soviet Government are guided by a sincere desire to assist the fraternal Korean people in building socialism, solving crucial problems of industrialisation, strengthening the country's defensive capability, and in her just struggle for the reunification of Korea on a peaceful and democratic basis.
The CPSU is continuously strengthening its international ties and unity with all the fraternal parties and peoples. As a result the Soviet Union is successfully developing all-round co-operation with the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Hungarian People's Republic, the Mongolian People's Republic, the Polish People's Republic, and the Socialist Republic of Rumania. Mutual contacts have attained unprecedented scope in recent years. The Soviet Union's co-operation with the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia has also considerably developed in this period.
The friendly relations between the socialist countries and their mutual commitments are 394 stipulated in treaties of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance and in other treaties and agreements. In recent years the Soviet Union signed new treaties of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania, thus rounding out the renewal of its treaty ties with the fraternal countries in keeping with the heightened level of socialist international relations. Together with the earlier concluded treaties with the GDR, Poland and the Mongolian People's Republic these historic documents account for a considerable portion of the comprehensive system of new treaty commitments undertaken by the fraternal socialist countries.
The new treaties ensure long-term stability of the multilateral bonds linking the socialist countries. They organically combine the national interests of each country with the international interests of all countries of the world socialist community.
With each passing year, with each stage of social development, the great principles of socialist internationalism acquire an ever fuller meaning. The CPSU, the entire Soviet people are doing their utmost to make the co-operation of the socialist countries and their mutual bonds even stronger and more fruitful. Dwelling on this issue at the 24th CPSU Congress Leonid Brezhnev said: "We want to see every fraternal country a flourishing state, harmoniously combining rapid economic, scientific and technical growth with a flowering of socialist culture and rising living standards for the working people. We want the world socialist 395 system to be a well-knit family of nations, building and defending the new society together, and mutually enriching each other with experience and knowledge, a family, strong and united, which the people of the world would regard as the prototype of the future world community of free nations.''
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Internationalism and NationalismThe experience of world socialism shows that the national interests, if properly understood, do not run counter to the general interests and aims of the socialist system; on the contrary, they can be realised the more successfully, the fuller they take account of the general aims and tasks of the socialist countries.
The Communist parties channel the interstate relations in the socialist system into all-round, mutually advantageous co-operation in politics, economics and culture. A new society is being built successfully and both national and international tasks are being effectively resolved where the ruling Communist Party consistently relies on the Marxist-Leninist science and the principles of socialist co-operation tested in practice, where it educates the masses in the spirit of internationalist ideas and wages a resolute struggle against all nationalistic manifestations.
But if narrow nationalistic interests are brought to the fore and attempts are made to realise them at the expense of other countries or to the 396 detriment of internationalist interests, ultimately such policies backfire against those who pursue them.
A socialist country which isolates herself from and even goes to the extent of placing herself in opposition to the socialist community does so to both her own detriment and that of the community as a whole. Such a policy strikes hard at her national economy because it deprives her of advantages of the international socialist division of labour and slows up production growth. In the final count it may bring her into dependence on the capitalist world and lead to forfeiture of her socialist gains.
Nationalism is the chief political and ideological weapon employed by international reaction against the socialist states. Reactionaries of all hues speculate on national feelings, cultivate national egoism and other bourgeois prejudices.
It is very dangerous to underestimate nationalism: it is tenacious and its advocates are resourceful and tricky. Nationalism is capable of causing grave harm to the interests of socialism and communism unless a consistent struggle is waged against it.
How disastrous it may be for a country if the leadership of her ruling party slides down to nationalistic positions is clearly seen from the events which have taken place in China since the beginning of the 1960s and the foreign policy she has been pursuing over these years. Without interfering in China's internal processes, the CPSU and other fraternal Marxist-Leninist parties have sincerely sought to help the Chinese Communists 397 and the people of China to cope with the grave political crisis that gripped the country, to help the Chinese leaders find the right road. But the leaders of the Communist Party of China declined all offers of co-operation and comradely discussion of controversial questions. Moreover, they demanded that the fraternal Communist parties renounce their collectively worked out Marxist-Leninist course of the world communist movement, and even went to the extent of insisting that the CPSU should revise its Programme.
In opposition to the internationalist policy of co-operation and mutual assistance of the socialist countries and their unity in the face of imperialism, Peking advanced its splitting course and great-Han aims. It turned down co-ordinated and united actions with other socialist countries in the struggle against imperialist aggression in Indochina and other parts of the world.
The anti-Leninist policy of the Chinese leadership seriously impaired Soviet-Chinese relations. Trade and cultural ties between the two countries were curtailed. The Maoists made slanderous charges against the CPSU and the Soviet state, accusing them of "bourgeois degeneration" and of plans "to attack China''. The Chinese extremists went to such lengths as to advance territorial claims to the USSR, and in the spring and summer of 1969 provoked armed incidents on the Soviet-Chinese border.
Peking adopted a hostile stand towards other socialist countries and their Communist and Workers' parties, too. The Chinese leadership is 398 continuing its attacks on Marxist-Leninist parties accusing them of ``revisionism''; it refuses to maintain contacts and co-operate with them and conducts subversive, splitting activities in the world communist movement. Against the background of China's continuing hostility towards the countries of the socialist community, her developing ties with the biggest capitalist states stand out in particularly bold relief.
Following the acceptance of the People's Republic of China to UN membership, her representatives have been spreading anti-Soviet slander from the rostrum of this international organisation, in effect adopting the position of the more aggressive imperialist circles.
The CPSU and other Marxist-Leninist parties have always been aware that Peking's current policy plays into the hands of imperialism and reaction, that China's refusal to act jointly with the socialist countries and forces in a united antiimperialist front makes it easier for imperialism to pursue its line of aggression and war.
Pledged to their internationalist duty and historical responsibility, the CPSU and the fraternal Communist parties during these years firmly upheld the principles of Marxism-Leninism, worked for the cohesion of the world socialist community and vigorously countered the petty-bourgeois, nationalistic theory and practice of Maoism. And today, too, the CPSU resolutely follows this course. It is above all the efforts of the CPSU, of all Marxist-Leninist parties that helped to considerably reduce and neutralise the dangerous 399 influence of Maoist theories and the CPC's political course on the world socialist system and the entire international communist movement.
At the same time, displaying restraint and patience, the CPSU has been working to bring the Communist Party of China back to Marxist-- Leninist positions and normalise Soviet-Chinese relations. Acting in the supreme interests of the Soviet and Chinese peoples, the CPSU and the Soviet state are advocating a negotiated settlement of outstanding issues and equal and mutually advantageous co-operation in those fields where it is possible today.
The CPSU and the Soviet state are also prepared to restore normal relations with Albania, in the belief that this would benefit both states and the entire socialist community.
The splitting activities of the Chinese leadership failed to stop the objective process of allround unification and consolidation of the forces of the world socialist community. Socialist countries have solidified their ranks to an even greater extent to make up for the temporary harm suffered by the world socialist system as a result of the Maoists' hostile activity.
Since the establishment of the world socialist system over a quarter of a century ago and especially in recent years, the fraternal Communist parties and socialist countries have accumulated vast experience and evolved numerous forms of political interaction which have already proved their effectivity and practical value.
400 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/FPS559/20071205/499.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.12.05) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ALPHA_LVL3__ Co-operation of the FraternalFraternal Communist and Workers' parties are playing the leading role in strengthening the unity of the countries forming the socialist community.
The CPSU is co-operating actively with the fraternal parties on a wide range of problems. InterParty co-operation is centred mainly on exchanging experience in socialist and communist construction, elaborating ways and means of deepening the all-round friendly relations between the socialist countries, and co-ordinating their foreign policies. In its Report to the 24th CPSU Congress the Central Committee noted that such cooperation had enabled the Communist parties of the socialist countries jointly to work on the fundamental problems of socialist and communist construction, find more rational forms of economic ties, collectively determine a common line in foreign affairs and exchange views on ideological and cultural matters.
The co-operation of the fraternal Communist and Workers' parties cements the world socialist community; it has a great positive impact on all aspects of the mutual relations between socialist countries and influences world affairs.
Meetings and contacts between leading Party officials of the fraternal countries have developed into a tradition. In recent years they took place regularly and whenever necessary. This furthers the mutual understanding between the parties, 401 helps them to find the most effective solutions for the problems that arise and precludes any possible misunderstandings.
Alongside regular meetings and consultations between leading Party officials and representatives of Central Committees extensive contacts are maintained by local organisations of the fraternal parties in which many thousands of Communists of the socialist countries participate.
Co-operation in the sphere of ideology is an element of inter-Party links. Today, when imperialist circles are endeavouring to take advantage of the international detente and the developing contacts between the peoples to organise ideological subversion with the view to undermining socialism, it has become even more necessary to struggle consistently against bourgeois ideologists, Right- and ``Left''-wing opportunists and the Chinese leaders' anti-Leninist conceptions. It is just as important that in their ideological co-- operation fraternal parties should continue jointly to elaborate problems of socialist and communist construction.
Today the ideological front is one of the most important sectors of the anti-imperialist struggle. Imperialism has set in motion a huge propaganda machinery and is spending vast sums of money in its efforts to press back, weaken and undermine socialism. Moreover, lately bourgeois ideologists have been acting with increasing resourcefulness and cunning by proclaiming the need to `` improve'', ``humanise'' and ``liberalise'' socialism, "defend the national interests" of individual __PRINTERS_P_401_COMMENT__ 26---2052 402 socialist countries, and by advancing other false slogans.
Seeking to disunite the socialist countries and place them in opposition to each other, bourgeois propaganda exploits any deviations from Marxist-Leninist principles, from the tested course of socialist construction.
The Communists of the socialist countries consider it their duty to follow the example set by Lenin and uphold communist ideology from principled positions, to wage an uncompromising struggle against any attempts by world imperialism and its Right- and ``Left''-\ving revisionist fellow-- travellers to attack the Marxist-Leninist teaching and the time-tested laws of socialist construction. In this struggle the fraternal parties have strong positions.
Their purposeful efforts have promoted a vigorous process of the ideological and cultural drawing together of the peoples of the socialist community, their cultural enrichment and education in the spirit of proletarian internationalism. They are conducting a broad exchange of cultural values, including books on all subjects, newspapers and magazines, art exhibitions, theatrical performances, films and radio and television programmes. Books are translated and languages are studied. All this brings the cultural achievements of each of the fraternal peoples within reach of all the countries of the socialist community, multiplies their spiritual wealth and lays the foundations for a single culture of the world socialist system.
403The common ideological and cultural wealth of free peoples, their spiritual rapprochement is a wellspring of the all-round development of the individual, which is the purpose of the vast and many-sided work of building socialism and communism.
The GPSU attaches great importance to the study and utilisation of the collective experience of building a new society. This was underlined by Leonid Brezhnev at the 24th Party Congress. "Our stand,'' he said, "is that the co-- operation between the fraternal countries should grow ever more diverse and gain in depth, that it should involve ever broader masses of working people, and that each other's concrete experience should be more fundamentally studied at every level of state, social, economic and cultural life.''
Promoting inter-Party co-operation the CPSU proceeds from the assumption that each Communist Party is fully independent in working out its programme and domestic and foreign policies. Practice shows that any attempt by any Party to regard its methods of socialist construction as the only correct ones and impose its views on other parties breeds misunderstandings and conflicts, and in the final analysis weakens the unity of the Communists. The co-operation of the fraternal parties is a genuinely Marxist-Leninist co-- operation of equal political organisations which respect each other's views and experience.
Needless to say, each Communist Party is fully entitled to uphold its views and its understanding of events and to criticise other parties. But such __PRINTERS_P_403_COMMENT__ 26* 404 criticism should rest on the principle of socialist internationalism and, therefore, be friendly, tactful and constructive.
The CPSU consistently upholds this Leninist approach to inter-Party co-operation and always acts accordingly. The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties which took place in Moscow in 1969 spoke up in favour of such an approach.
The historical community of socialist countries, the world socialist system, is developing on the basis of the close co-operation of the fraternal parties. The CPSU is doing everything to strengthen and develop the international alliance of Communists, of Marxists-Leninists heading socialist and communist construction.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Warsaw Treaty OrganisationEstablished in 1955 as a military and political alliance of the socialist countries in the face of the increasing danger and incessant threats of aggressive imperialist circles, the Warsaw Treaty Organisation is playing an important role in enhancing the political co-operation and the defensive capability of the socialist community.
The supreme body of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation is the Political Consultative Committee (PCC). At its meetings individual countries are represented by the General (First) Secretaries of the Central Committees of the Communist parties and the heads of government. Each socialist 405 country which is a member of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation has one vote in the PCC.
The Committee promotes the common interests of the socialist community and bases its activity on the principle of independence and sovereignty of the signatories to the Treaty. It holds periodic conferences, discusses and passes decisions on the key problems concerning the strengthening of the defensive potential of the member states, the organisation of the united armed forces and the improvement of their fighting efficiency and political training.
Current problems of co-operation in foreign affairs are considered at conferences of foreign ministers of the Warsaw Treaty states or their deputies, and also in the course of bilateral consultations, talks and exchanges of information.
Military co-operation within the framework of the Warsaw Treaty takes place under the general guidance of the Political Consultative Committee through the United Command at whose disposal each member state places an agreed number of armed forces. The Headquarters of the United Armed Forces is located in Moscow.
The Warsaw Treaty Organisation and its Political Consultative Committee have become a centre where the European socialist countries, its members, formulate common policy on crucial international issues.
Whenever it proved necessary the leaders of the Warsaw Treaty countries convened a meeting of the Political Consultative Committee. At these meetings they discussed and worked out common 406 positions on crucial international issues and carried through joint foreign policy actions in keeping with the obtaining situation.
The Warsaw Treaty made an important contribution to the solution of urgent political problems, and, first and foremost, to the strengthening of European security. Just a few years ago it seemed impossible to achieve a detente on that continent, to start work on the solution of ripe European problems. But the consistent, concerted policy of the Warsaw Treaty countries, their persevering efforts eventually produced positive results.
The proposals framed at the meetings of the Political Consultative Committee in Bucharest in 1966, in Budapest in 1969, in Moscow in 1970 and in Prague early in 1972 comprised an effective programme of struggle for turning Europe into a continent of peace and equal international cooperation.
The determination of the Warsaw Treaty countries to improve the European situation was manifested in their efforts to call an all-European security conference which if successful could pave the way for a cutback in the armed forces stationed in Europe.
Working for the introduction of effective measures designed to bring about a detente in Europe, the Soviet Union and other socialist states naturally cannot agree to a unilateral reduction of their defensive capacity. As they maintain revolutionary vigilance socialist states continuously strengthen their armed forces which are standing guard over the gains of socialism.
407The interaction of the armed forces of the socialist states, their combat efficiency and armaments have considerably improved as a result of the adoption of collective measures to perfect the military organisation of the Warsaw Treaty and a series of joint military exercises conducted in the past few years which were unprecedented both in scope and scale, precise execution, and quantity of weapons involved. Today the military might of the Warsaw Treaty countries is capable of smashing any aggressor.
The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Co-- operation and Mutual Assistance is a defensive agreement. The socialist states have repeatedly suggested to NATO that both these organisations should be disbanded and replaced with a single system of European security. But the Western powers declined to dissolve their military blocs.
In the absence of a collective European security system embracing West and East European states, the Warsaw Treaty Organisation will continue to be a defensive military alliance of socialist countries and the main force keeping in check all those who may try to gamble irresponsibly with the destinies of the European peoples.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ DEVELOPMENTThe world socialist system came into being more than a quarter of a century ago. In this relatively short period the countries forming it have made 408 great strides in their development. They carried out fundamental socio-economic transformations covering a path which in other circumstances would have required many decades.
A quarter of a century ago most of the socialist countries were the scene of an acute class struggle for power and were confronted with the crucial problem of choosing the road of social development. Since then they have consolidated the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist political and economic system, and their Communist parties have become the recognised leaders of socialist society.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Great Social GainsIn the post-war years the Soviet Union and other socialist countries have made signal progress in all fields of political and economic activity, science and culture. The Soviet Union, having achieved the complete and final victory of socialism and built a developed socialist society, has begun the construction of communism. Most of the fraternal countries have laid foundations of socialism and many of them have started building a developed socialist society.
After winning power the working class and all working people have to solve many problems of which the biggest and the most important is the socialist reorganisation and development of the national economy.
History has proved that socialism can be built 409 only through the socialisation of the basic means of production, steady development of the productive forces and improvement of the people's material welfare on the basis of modern industry and intensive agriculture. Only modern industrial and agricultural production and an appropriate service industry can form the material and technical basis of a developed socialist society. That was why industrial states (Czechoslovakia and the GDR), industrial-agrarian (Poland and Hungary) and agrarian (as China, Bulgaria, Rumania and Yugoslavia were in the past) had to launch economic construction, especially in industry, immediately after the victory of the revolution. This was all the more urgent also because the Second World War had undermined the economies of most of these countries and they had to build a new life virtually from scratch.
Socialist social change paved the way for rapid economic growth of the fraternal states. Many formerly backward agrarian countries have now become advanced industrial states which play an increasingly prominent role in the world.
The socialist countries owe their rapid development to the economic and political conditions created by the socialist revolution. The class composition of society changed as a result of the socialist transformations. The capitalists and landowners quit the political scene and only the friendly classes, the workers and peasants and the working intelligentsia, remained.
In the course of socialist construction the working class rapidly enlarged and came to play an 410 increasingly important role in society. In pre-war Poland, for instance, there were just over a million workers; today her working class numbers more than seven million. In Hungary the number of workers almost trebled.
The working class of the socialist countries is the most advanced and best organised detachment of the working people; it has justly become society's leading and guiding force.
In recent years the majority of socialist countries made further important progress in their development by completing the process of fundamental socialist changes in both town and country. The working peasantry in most socialist states has turned from a class of small producers into a class of socialist working people engaged in large-scale agricultural production at co-operatives or state farms. The bulk of former artisans, handicraftsmen and merchants now work at producers' co-- operatives and socialist enterprises.
The intelligentsia has also changed. The progressively-minded old intelligentsia has taken up socialist positions. A new, people's intelligentsia appeared, and many former workers and peasants have become prominent scientists, cultural workers, artists and military leaders.
The socialist system made it possible to solve the national question, one of the most complicated issues in multinational states. Both large and small nations emerged on the path of all-round development. This strengthened their friendship and closely rallied them around the banner of proletarian internationalism.
411Socialism has become rooted in the economy and everyday life, in the socio-political structure of society and in the consciousness of the peoples. It has become established firmly and for good in the countries of the socialist system.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Successes of IndustrialisationThe experience of socialist construction in the fraternal countries once again confirmed the correctness of Lenin's words: "A large-scale machine industry capable of reorganising agriculture is the only material basis that is possible for socialism."^^*^^ Industrialisation has indeed become the basis for all the major social and technological changes in the national economy carried through by the countries of the socialist system. Most of them used the accelerated development of industry as the main lever for promoting the growth of other branches of the economy, training skilled personnel and augmenting the ranks of the working class.
In doing so each socialist country selected the forms and rates of industrialisation that best suited her domestic conditions and opportunities, level of economic development, the available natural and labour resources and geographic features. The Mongolian People's Republic and the Republic of Cuba, for example, began industrialisation by setting up those industries which serviced agriculture and processed its products.
As a result of industrialisation the industry of _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, p. 459.
412 the socialist countries plays a decisive role in promoting economic development and living standards.Important changes have taken place in the structure of industrial production of the fraternal countries. Industries manufacturing the means of production now account for a bigger share in the gross industrial output.
About 75 per cent of the total production in the CMEA countries is industrial, and within the industry a half to three-quarters of the branches produce metal, equipment and machinery, i.e., products on which the increase in the output of the means of production depends.
In 1971 industrial production in Bulgaria was 39 times higher than prior to the war, in Czechoslovakia about eight times, in Hungary over 8.5 times, in the GDR over six times, in the Mongolian People's Republic over 15 times, in Poland more than 18 times and in Rumania almost 19 times.
From 1966 to 1970 industrial output of all CMEA countries increased 49 per cent. Their engineering, chemical and power industries are developing at a particularly rapid pace. Their share in gross industrial output has risen considerably. The engineering and chemical industries now account for 25--50 per cent, and in some countries for even a greater portion of the total volume of industrial output. This circumstance has improved the branch structure of industry and enhanced the effectivity of the national economy of the socialist countries.
413The CMEA countries are maintaining their fast rates of industrial growth in the current five-year plan period (1971--75). Bulgaria plans to increase industrial output by 55--66 per cent, Czechoslovakia by 34--36 per cent, Hungary by 32--34 per cent, the GDR by 34--36 per cent, the Mongolian People's Republic by 53--56 per cent, Poland by 48--50 per cent, and Rumania by 68--78 per cent. Seventy to 80 per cent of the growth of industrial production will be achieved as a result of higher labour productivity. In order to accelerate technological progress priority importance is attached to promoting the development of metallurgical, chemical and engineering industries (electronics, electrical engineering, instrument-making, production of forgeand-press equipment, etc.). The national economy is being electrified at a rapid pace. Previously the rate of development of the power industry was somewhat slower than overall industrial growth, but now it is the other way round. Several large power stations were commissioned in the course of the past few years.
In two decades (1950--70) the output of electricity in the socialist countries increased more than sevenfold. The petrochemical industry is developing very rapidly as a result of the construction of large oil refineries and petrochemical factories in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Poland and Rumania.
A feature of the economic growth of the CMEA countries in recent years has been an increase in the rates of development of consumer goods industries.
414The current stage is marked by intensive development of production based on a continuous rise in labour productivity and technological progress. From 1971 to 1975 GMEA countries plan to attain an 85 per cent increase in the national income as a result of a rise in labour productivity.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Socialist Reorganisation of AgricultureA house built half of concrete slabs or bricks and half of adobe or clay will collapse before long. A new society, too, will not last if there is largescale socialist industry in towns and small-scale individual commodity production in the countryside.
Socialist society must form a single whole. This means that besides socialising the means of production in industry, it is necessary to reorganise agriculture along socialist lines. Such reorganisation is an objective requirement of socialist construction, a regularity which has received fresh confirmation in the fraternal countries.
The majority of the socialist states have already carried through or in the main completed the socialist reorganisation of agriculture. In Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Mongolia and Rumania---members of CMEA---the socialist sector accounts for 97 per cent of agricultural production. The Cuban peasantry is being successfully transferred to the socialist path of development. In Poland and Yugoslavia the socialist reorganisation of agriculture, due to a number of reasons, is taking place at a slower pace.
415Creatively applying the ideas set forth in Lenin's co-operative plan, the fraternal Communist and Workers' parties as a rule preferred to guide the peasantry onto the socialist path without undue haste. Taking into account the traditions of private landownership in these countries they began with the simplest forms of co-operation (credit, consumer, and supply and marketing) and then went over to the higher form---production cooperation. Co-operatives were established only when the peasants came to see the advantages of collective farming through personal experience.
Although the majority of socialist countries were either wholly or predominantly agrarian in the past, they had a very low level of agricultural development. There was intensive agriculture only in some regions of Czechoslovakia and the GDR. The economic policy of the Communist and Workers' parties in the socialist countries is designed to intensify agriculture, raise production and cut its costs. Allocations and material and technical assistance to the countryside are being augmented and mechanisation of agricultural labour and the application of fertiliser and the chemical treatment of crops are being increased. Measures are being taken to strengthen the co-operatives and state farms economically and organisationally and keep them supplied with qualified personnel. The planning and management of agriculture are being improved and the farmers' incentives in raising agricultural production are increasing.
416 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Rise in the WelfareSocialism's aim is to promote the all-round development of the individual and satisfy his growing requirements. The socialist countries are solving this problem by securing a continuous rise in the people's welfare and culture. They allocate approximately 70--80 per cent of their national income for the purpose of satisfying the people's material and cultural requirements. The remainder goes to make up the accumulation fund, expand production capacities and build up necessary reserves.
The bulk of the accumulation fund is directed into the personal consumption fund as payment for labour. At the same time large sums are channelled into public consumption funds which are expended on improving cultural facilities and services, public health, social maintenance, education, science and culture.
The People's Republic of China is the only socialist state where the living standard is still very low. Grain, fats and textiles are rationed and other restrictions are still in force there. This is a result of China's former economic backwardness and the adventuristic course of the leadership of the Communist Party of China which is detrimental to the Chinese people's vital interests.
The socialist countries have built up an effective health protection system with a large number of medical institutions, sanatoriums and rest homes. Medical service is free of charge. In Bulgaria, 417 Czechoslovakia and Hungary there are more doctors per 10,000 of the population than in the USA, Britain, France, Italy, the FRG or Japan.
A thoroughgoing cultural revolution is under way in the socialist countries where the masses are getting a better education, where literature, the theatre, music and the fine arts have been brought within reach of millions of people, and where communist ideology and morality are becoming increasingly widespread.
The development of public education stimulates the all-round cultural growth of the people. Primary education, and in some countries secondary education, is compulsory. Free education is available to all working people and their children without exception. This is ensured by the continuous increase in the number of all educational institutions and the expansion of vocational training.
Many socialist countries have a greater proportion of schoolchildren and students than the advanced capitalist states. In the 1970/71 school year there were 188 students per 10,000 of the population in the USSR, 108 in Bulgaria, 78 in Hungary, 81 in the GDR, 101 in Poland, 117 in Yugoslavia, whereas in the 1969/70 school year Britain had 87 students per 10,000 of the population, the FRG had 56, and Italy 78.
The number of theatres, cinemas, clubs and museums is increasing all the time; more books, newspapers and magazines are published and the radio broadcasting and TV systems are developing.
The growth of culture, which is socialist in content and national in form, takes place on the basis __PRINTERS_P_417_COMMENT__ 27---2052 418 of a critical reassessment of the cultural heritage, the assimilation of all that is progressive and democratic in the past culture created by the preceding generations, and through active perception and reflection of socialist life.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Political Organisation of SocietyThe entire system of state bodies in socialist countries rests on organs of people's representation. People's (National) Assemblies are the highest bodies of power, and the local government bodies are people's councils. They exercise full state authority, are vested with the right to pass decisions on the most important state problems, and are elected by universal and secret ballot.
The highest bodies of people's representation elect either the Presidium of the People's ( National) Assembly or the State Council, the supreme collective body of state power which is responsible and accountable to them. In addition to the highest collective organs of state power, the Republic of Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the Korean People's Democratic Republic, Rumania, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and Yugoslavia have the constitutionally established office of President (Head of State) who is likewise accountable to the supreme representative body. Local organs of state power are regional, area, district and communal people's councils.
People's representative bodies form, elect or appoint organs of state administration, courts and procurator's offices.
419A very important role in rallying society along the lines of socialist reorganisation is played by People's (National, Fatherland) Fronts guided by Communist and Workers' parties. A People's Front, which is a special form of an alliance of the working class with the peasantry and the nonproletarian working people in town and country, plays an important role in the political activity of the socialist countries. It promotes the cohesion of the different classes and sections of the population and mobilises them to accomplish the tasks of socialist construction.
The participation of the bodies of the People's Front in state activity, in organising and conducting election campaigns and exercising public control over the state machinery helps the fraternal Communist and Workers' parties to develop socialist democracy and enhance the political and labour activities of the people.
Essentially People's Democracies were and are the states of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The main tasks of the socialist states are to conduct economic, organisational and educational work, and ensure favourable external conditions for socialist construction. The chief trend in the development of state life in the countries of the socialist community is all-round deepening and improvement of socialist democracy.
The entire activity of organs of state power and administration in the socialist countries is based on the principle of democratic centralism. In economic management this principle is translated into life mainly with the help of a single state plan.
__PRINTERS_P_419_COMMENT__ 27* 420Forms of production management in the socialist countries have their specific features. In most of them production is managed in a centralised manner according to branches, through corresponding ministries and other central bodies and state economic (production) associations.
Of late economic management has become more complicated as a result of the increased magnitude of production and the changes that have taken place in its structure. Production is becoming more concentrated as many countries set up large production (economic) associations and combines. Much higher demands are made on the quality of production and it is now on the agenda to raise it to the level of the world's highest standards. To achieve this it is necessary to devise new forms and methods of economic planning and management on the basis of a deep scientific analysis with due regard for the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution.
Many countries are carrying out economic reforms embracing a wide range of economic, scientific and technical measures with the single aim of bringing the forms and methods of economic management in line with the growing requirements of socialist and communist construction. The socialist countries are improving planning methods, achieving a correct combination of centralism in economic management with economic independence of individual enterprises and industrial associations, and are striving to make the most effective use of cost accounting and material incentives to labour.
421Industrial and agricultural production is managed not only by state bodies, but also by Party and trade union organisations, production conferences, factory councils, workers' self-management conferences, and so forth.
Practice shows that a combination of state management of production with diverse forms of the participation of the working people in management produces good results and makes it possible to use the advantages inherent in the socialist system of the economy more efficiently.
The 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties noted: "The socialist world has now entered a stage of its development when the possibility arises of utilising on a scale far greater than ever before the tremendous potentialities inherent in the new system. This is furthered by evolving and applying better economic and political forms corresponding to the requirements of mature socialist society, which already rests on the new social structure.''
__ALPHA_LVL2__ COMMUNIST PARTIES---Due to specific historical conditions some socialist countries have a multiparty system, while others have only one party. In the USSR there is only one party, the CPSU, which guides all state and public activity. In the fraternal European countries the socialist revolution followed a different course from that in the USSR. In these countries broad associations of anti-fascist forces were 422 formed in the course of the national liberation struggle, and these associations---People's ( National, Fatherland, Democratic) Fronts---included Communist, Social-Democratic, peasant and pettybourgeois parties and various social organisations.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Political Parties in Socialist CountriesWhen the Communists of the People's Democracies adopted the course of socialist reorganisation of society they were supported by a number of parties representing the toiling peasantry, intelligentsia and petty-bourgeois sections of the urban population. At the same time bourgeois parties, primarily of the wealthy sections of the bourgeoisie and the reactionary forces, opposed revolutionary changes and were dissolved.
In the ensuing political struggle victory was won by the course of socialist construction with the result that in some countries Communist and Social-Democratic parties agreed to unite and to form a single Marxist-Leninist Party of the working class.
Having become convinced that the objectives of the Communists also corresponded to their interests, democratic parties began to co-operate with the Communist parties. In their programmes they approved the socialist path of development and recognised the leading role of the Communists. These parties actively participate in socialist construction, conducting their work primarily among the peasants, the intelligentsia and certain sections of the urban population. They have 423 representatives in parliaments and local government bodies.
Poland, for example, in addition to the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP), which unites Communists, also has the United Peasants' Party and the Democratic Party.
The United Peasants' Party, the country's second largest party, operates in the countryside, where it co-operates with the PUWP in building up intensive agriculture and creating conditions for its socialist reorganisation. Its representatives hold more than a quarter of the seats in the Sejm (Parliament) and its functionaries are members of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers.
The Democratic Party carries on its activity mainly among the urban intelligentsia, office workers and artisans. It also has its representatives in the central and local organs of power.
The German Democratic Republic has five parties: the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, which unites the country's Communists, the Democratic Peasants' Party (an association representing in the main the interests of the peasants), the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (association of Christian believers advocating peace and progress), the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany ( representing progressive intelligentsia and small merchants), and the National Democratic Party of Germany (handicraftsmen, small merchants and former Wehrmacht officers who have broken with their past).
The leading role in the GDR political system is played by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
424All political parties in the country co-operate under the slogan "Plan together, work together, govern together" and form the National Front of Democratic Germany.
There is close fraternal co-operation between the Bulgarian Communist Party and the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union---the party of the peasants. Recognising the leading role of the Communist Party, the Agrarian People's Union participates with it in resolving the fundamental problems of socialist construction in the country. The Union vigorously encouraged co-operation of peasant households and the country's industrialisation. Now that agricultural co-operation has been completed the Union continues to play an important role in the country's political life and in socialist construction. This party holds almost 25 per cent of seats in the National Assembly and some of its representatives are members of the Government. The Union's local organisations closely co-operate with the Communists in all the most important fields of human activity.
In Czechoslovakia in addition to the Communist Party which in the initial post-war years united the Communists and Social-Democrats, there are the Czechoslovak People's Party, the Czechoslovak Socialist Party, the Slovak Reconstruction Party and the Slovak Freedom Party.
In Hungary and Rumania workers' parties united into a single party, while petty-bourgeois and peasants' parties have practically quit the political scene. Mongolia, Cuba and Yugoslavia have a one-party system.
425So, as a result of different historical conditions, some socialist countries have one party, while others several. But in either case the existing political systems are successfully building socialism because the Communist parties are their leading and cementing force.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Leading Role of the Communist PartiesMarxist-Leninist parties are the leading political force behind all the social changes in the socialist countries. In their aims, policies and social composition they are all revolutionary parties of the working class, its vanguard. Their political activity is based on Marxist-Leninist theory.
By guiding the socialist reorganisation of the economy and culture, the Communist parties have won lasting prestige among the working people and are the recognised leaders of the people in socialist construction. The Communist parties unite the progressive and most active political and social forces of the people. In their activities they rely in the first place on the working class and exert a profound influence on all sections of the working people.
The peoples of the socialist countries owe all their achievements in the reorganisation of their social life to the consistent revolutionary activity of the Communist parties which mobilised and united the efforts of the working people in the struggle for socialism. The Communist parties initiate major state and social measures. They are the inspirers and political organisers of economic 426 development and play a vastly important role in promoting the socialist social relations and in moulding the new man.
It can be seen from the experience of the development of world socialism that correct, MarxistLeninist guidance by the Communist Party is decisive for socialist and communist construction. This conclusion has been put on record by the 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties: "Practice has shown that socialist transformations and the building of the new society are a long and complex process, and that the utilisation of the tremendous possibilities opened up by the new system depends on the Communist parties in the leadership of the state, on their ability to resolve the problems of socialist development the Marxist-Leninist way.''
The influence of Marxist-Leninist Communist and Workers' parties has grown immeasurably in the years of socialist construction. They have expanded their social base and consolidated their proletarian core; the democratic principles of Party life are developing and improving and the ideological and organisational unity of Party ranks has become still stronger. The fraternal parties have become the recognised leaders of society; they efficiently guide the entire course of socialist construction and have the complete trust and unswerving support of the peoples.
The Communist and Workers' parties of the socialist countries are mass parties. The Bulgarian Communist Party has more than 700,000 members, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 427 1,200,000, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany nearly two million, the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party about 750,000, the Workers' Party of Korea 2,300,000, the Polish United Workers' Party about 2,300,000, the Rumanian Communist Party 2,200,000 and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia about 1,100,000. Since there are Party organisations in all towns and villages, at industrial enterprises, on most state farms, agricultural co-operatives and in institutions, the Communist and Workers' parties are in a position consistently and vigorously to pursue their policy of building socialism in all spheres of life.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ DECISIVE FACTORThe establishment of the world system of socialism is the main achievement of social progress in our epoch: it plays a determining role in the progressive development of humanity, in strengthening the forces of peace, democracy and socialism. Today there is no spot on the earth where the revolutionising influence of the socialist countries has not made itself felt. Closely co-operating with the international working class and the national liberation movement, the socialist community is conducting a large-scale offensive on imperialism.
428 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Force of ExampleThe system of socialist states is a guarantee and the decisive force of the revolutionary renovation of the world. How do the socialist states help the world revolutionary movement? In the first place by force of example, by their successes in socialist and communist construction. Revolutionary creativity, such is the main force with which socialism is changing the world. The developed, mature socialist society which has been built in the Soviet Union, and successful socialist construction in other socialist countries are an inspiring example for other peoples, and the ideas which have taken possession of the masses are developing into a material force.
The successes of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries have enabled all the peoples of the world to see the practical merits of the ideas for which the Communists are struggling. Now the world can judge socialism not only by its programmes and slogans, but also by the benefits it offers people. The socialist countries are building a society which is the prototype of the order under which the whole of humanity will be living in the future, and are laying the foundations of a new type of international relations. In all spheres of life---economic, political and cultural---socialism demonstrates its advantages over capitalism.
``By the force of its example,'' reads the Statement of the 1960 Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties, "the world socialist system is revolutionising the thinking of 429 the working people in the capitalist countries; it is inspiring them to fight against capitalism, and is greatly facilitating that fight.''
Within a short historical period socialism abolished exploitation of man by man and national oppression, opened unprecedented opportunities for overcoming former backwardness, promoting the rapid development of the productive forces and raising people's welfare and culture. Peoples have become convinced that only socialism asserts genuine democracy and freedom of the individual, banishes wars from the life of society and establishes lasting peace. Against the background of the successes of the socialist countries it becomes even more obvious that capitalism, as a social system, is incapable of solving the basic tasks facing humanity.
Comparing socialism and capitalism, many young national states choose the non-capitalist path of development. They carry through political and economic reforms utilising the experience of the countries forming the world socialist system. They nationalise large capitalist enterprises, strengthen the public sector in the economy, education, health protection and social maintenance. Drawing on the experience of the Communist parties, progressive forces in a number of states establish political organisations to guide the building of a new society and lead the workingpeople.
430 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Bulwark of Peace, FreedomThe socialist system exerts a great influence on the national liberation movement. As a result of the consolidation of world socialism and its determined support and assistance, many formerly oppressed peoples have been able to throw off the colonial yoke and win national independence.
Socialist countries actively co-operate with newly independent nations in political, economic and cultural fields.
There was a time when all, or nearly all, small states were obliged to stand together with the big imperialist states and join their military blocs and alliances. The imperialists imposed their will on the weaker states, subjugated whole countries and continents and unleashed wars almost unhindered. That time has gone for ever. True, imperialism still seriously hampers the establishment of equal relations between countries and threatens their independence, but it finds it increasingly difficult to pursue its course. The united forces of the socialist community deprive the imperialists of the opportunity arbitrarily and with impunity to command the destinies of the peoples.
The most convincing example of this has been the end of the war in Vietnam, the longest and bloodiest in the past decades. It was brought to an end in the first place as a result of the courage and fortitude of the patriotic forces of Vietnam, as a result of the mass heroism of the Vietnamese people and thanks to firm support on the part of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
431The historical significance of this victory is enormous and it will make itself felt to an even greater degree in the future. It is absolutely obvious that the US aggression in Vietnam is more than just one of the biggest battles lost by imperialism and colonialism. The outcome of the fighting in Vietnam undoubtedly mirrored the new balance of forces on the world scene and the further weakening of imperialist positions. In order to achieve a military victory the imperialists set a huge military machine in motion. They resorted to mass extermination of the civilian population and destruction of towns and villages, sacrificed tens of thousands of their soldiers and expended almost $150,000 million, but all to no avail.
The course and the outcome of the struggle in Vietnam showed that with the support of the Soviet Union, other socialist countries and progressive forces within the capitalist countries themselves, the freedom-loving peoples could successfully hold their ground in the face of imperialist aggression.
Now it is up to the socialist countries and all progressive humanity resolutely to support the governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of South Vietnam in their efforts to consolidate peace, secure the undeviating observance of the Paris agreements and help the Vietnamese people to attain all their national aspirations.
Under the influence of the world socialist system peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems is becoming an increasingly reliable form 432 of international development. Principles of equality, independence, territorial integrity, mutual respect and mutually advantageous co-operation are gaining firmer ground in international relations thanks to the efforts of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. Relying on the socialist system many countries are now in a position to resist the imperialists and pursue an independent course.
The peaceful, anti-imperialist policy of the socialist countries mobilises the forces of peace and progress throughout the world and rallies them in the struggle against imperialism and war. This policy is winning increasing support as the peoples see that it is the socialist states which advance the most progressive ideas for establishing lasting peace in the world. It was the socialist states which proposed to put a stop to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and subsequently to outlaw them. They also proposed general and complete disarmament, the dismantling of military bases on foreign territories, and so forth.
The working-class and communist movement has developed and strengthened under the impact of the successes of the socialist countries. The achievements of the peoples of the socialist community building a new life under the guidance of the Communist parties enhance the prestige of the Communists throughout the world.
Examining the course of world development in
recent years it is gratifying to note that it has been
considerably influenced by the world socialist
system, the force that cemented and united all the
__PARAGRAPH_PAUSE__
[433]
SHARE OF SOCIALIST COUNTRIES IN WORLD INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT
(per cent)
about 3
about 10
about 20
about 27
about 40
1917
1937
1950
1955
1972
434
__PARAGRAPH_CONT__
numerous detachments of anti-imperialist
fighters, all the champions of peace and progress. The
socialist countries have enormously contributed to
the achievement of detente in Europe and the
solution of many other world problems.
The world socialist system with its enormous economic and cultural potential is the chief material force, the foundation and bulwark of the contemporary revolutionary process, so that it is only natural that its achievements have become a giant accelerator of social progress.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is fully aware of the historical responsibility which devolves on the USSR for the outcome of the world struggle between socialism and capitalism. It regards communist construction in the USSR not only as its internal task, but also as a great international task whose accomplishment will benefit the entire socialist system and all progressive humanity. By paving the way to communism the Soviet people facilitates and speeds up the movement of other peoples towards this aim. In the course of communist construction the forms of organisation of the new life are tested, difficulties and ways of surmounting them discovered, and the best methods of work selected.
The interests of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries coincide with the interests and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of mankind. By the force of its example the socialist system is leading humanity towards the triumph of communism.
435 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Economic Competition Between SocialismEconomic competition is increasingly becoming one of the main forms of struggle between socialism and capitalism. The peoples appraise the merits of a social system primarily by its achievements in promoting economic development and raising the people's welfare and culture.
People prefer a system which will give them a better life and, in this sphere, i.e., in the sphere of material production, socialism is confidently moving towards a decisive victory over capitalism.
Socialism launched its economic competition with capitalism in unequal conditions. First, it had no experience in organising national economy, whereas capitalism had developed and advanced as a social system over a period of several centuries. Second, socialism emerged in a semi-- agrarian country which, moreover, was greatly weakened by war.
On the eve of the First World War Russia's output of pig iron and steel per head of population was one-eleventh, and of electricity one-- seventeenth, that of the United States. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union already in the period of its first fiveyear plans manifested its incontestable advantages over capitalism and showed that it could surpass it economically. While it took the United States. Germany and Britain from 80 to 150 years to raise industrial production approximately 30-fold, the Soviet Union did so in 30--40 years, including two decades covering the years of wars against the __PRINTERS_P_435_COMMENT__ 28* 436 foreign invaders and the periods of economic rehabilitation.
The time gained in the economic competition with capitalism is one of the most important factors of the successes of socialism and a guarantee of its future victories. The changing correlation of forces on the world scene is being engendered to an ever increasing extent by the fact that the economy of the Soviet Union and the fraternal countries is the world's most dynamic; its rates of development are high and stable and promote a steady rise in the standard of living.
The socialist countries considerably surpass the capitalist countries in the rates of economic growth. In 1972 the industrial output of the socialist countries was 15 times greater than that produced on the same territory in 1937, while the capitalist countries in this period increased their industrial output by 4.9 times.
If we compare the output of all socialist countries today with the output of the socialist countries in 1937 (i.e., the USSR and Mongolia) we shall see that their industrial production has increased 30 times, while the industrial production of the capitalist states in this period increased only 4.5 times. Between 1950 and 1970 the CMEA countries increased their national income 4.8 times compared with the less than threefold increase registered by the Common Market states. In 1972, the industrial output of the CMEA countries was more than eight times higher than in 1950, while in the advanced capitalist states it increased only threefold. In this period the 437 agriculture of the socialist countries also developed at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world.
In 1937 the socialist countries accounted for approximately a tenth of the world industrial output; now their share is close on two-fifths. Industrial output of the socialist countries is equal to nearly 70 per cent of that of the advanced capitalist states. The CMEA countries alone account for approximately a third of the world industrial output. The socialist countries now produce about one-third of the world's steel, cement, cotton fabrics, mineral fertiliser and tractors, more than a half of its coal, grain and sugar beet and two-fifths of its cotton and milk.
Socialism's advantages over capitalism are indisputable because the balanced development of socialist economy makes it possible scientifically to determine its prospects and the direction of technical progress, organise the efficient use of equipment and labour resources in the national economy and specialise and co-operate production.
The spontaneous development of the capitalist economy gives rise to anarchy in production and a competitive struggle which lead to enormous losses of labour and material resources. This manifests itself in crises, continuous underloading of enterprises, unemployment, etc. Lately economic development in capitalist countries has become even more unstable judging by the sharp decline in the rates of industrial growth in the USA, Japan, Britain, the FRG and Italy, the aggravation of the currency crisis and the intensification of the fight 438 for raw materials sources and commodity markets. Capitalism is undergoing the longest economic crisis in the past thirty years. Losses caused by the underloading of production capacities in 1974 were so great that they simply cannot be estimated. Socialist society, on the other hand, thanks to its planned economy, has suffered no losses and is in a position to make the most of its forces and wealth.
Between 1966 and 1970 the average annual industrial growth rates in the CMEA countries comprised 8.3 per cent as against 6.5 per cent in the Common Market states and 3.3 per cent in the USA. In keeping with their five-year plans the CMEA member countries in 1974 increased industrial production by over 8 per cent, while the countries of the European Economic Community attained an increase of only one per cent. Industrial production in the USSR rose 8 per cent, while in the United States it dropped 0.6 per cent. In the past two decades the share of the CMEA countries in the world industrial production has nearly doubled.
The high rates of economic growth in socialist countries and the mounting production of key industrial items inspire confidence that in the near future the socialist states will surpass the world capitalist system in the gross volume of industrial and agricultural production, too.
Already today the per capita industrial output in the world socialist system is higher than in the rest of the world, and it is moving towards achieving the goal of catching up with and overtaking 439 the advanced capitalist states in per capita production.
Czechoslovakia, for example, has overtaken France, Italy, Sweden and Belgium in per capita industrial output and the USA, Britain and France in pig iron and cement production. So far the socialist countries have not caught up with some of the more advanced capitalist states in the output of electricity per head of population, but the gap is swiftly narrowing. In this respect the USSR, thf. GDR and Czechoslovakia have already overtaken France, Belgium, Italy and Japan, and the GDR is continuing to be ahead of the FRG.
In some indices of production efficiency and the level of labour productivity the socialist countries are still behind the USA and a number of other highly advanced capitalist countries. This is partly due to the fact that socialism has been creating modern productive forces over too short a period. Yet, thanks to the faster rates of growth of labour productivity this gap is closing, too.
The main point of the economic competition between the two systems is the welfare of the population, the distribution of material wealth. Concealing the fact that the capitalist countries achieved a relatively high level of development largely through exploitation of subjugated peoples, predatory wars, unequal trade and usurious loans, bourgeois propaganda tries to make out that capitalism offers man the best conditions of life. The facts, however, disprove this and show the incontestable advantages of the socialist principle of distribution of material wealth.
440In the United States 60 per cent of the national wealth belongs to one per cent of the population. Despite the relatively high average standard of life large groups of the population (unemployed, low-paid farm labourers and Black workers) live in extremely difficult conditions.
In the socialist countries the standard of life of working people is continuously rising, although in a number of indices they are still lagging behind the most advanced capitalist countries. As regards health services and social maintenance, development of culture and public education, the socialist countries are ahead of them.
Thus, in the course of historical development socialism, as a socio-economic system, vividly demonstrates its advantages over capitalism.
CG CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev said at the 24th CPSU Congress: "The socialist world has given the communist and working-class movement experience which is of tremendous and truly historic importance. This experience shows: "Socialism, which is firmly established in the states now constituting the world socialist system, has proved its great viability in the historical contest with capitalism.
``The formation and strengthening of the world socialist system has been a powerful accelerator of historical progress which was started by the Great October Revolution. Fresh prospects have opened up for the triumph of socialism all over the world; life has provided confirmation of the conclusion drawn by the 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties that 'the world 441 socialist system is the decisive force in the anti-- imperialist struggle'.
``The world socialist system has been making a great contribution to the fulfilment of a task of such vital importance for all the peoples as the prevention of another world war. It is safe to say that many of the imperialist aggressors' plans were frustrated thanks to the existence of the world socialist system and its firm action.''
In their relations with the capitalist states, the socialist countries adhere to the policy of peaceful coexistence. They do not intend to prove the superiority of their social order by armed force nor to impose socialism on anyone. The peoples of the socialist countries also consider that all controversial international issues should be resolved peacefully.
At the same time peaceful coexistence does not in the least mean that class reconciliation is possible between such different socio-economic systems as socialism and capitalism. The exploiting classes in power in the capitalist countries will never be reconciled with the fact that the order which exists in the Soviet Union and other socialist states rejects everything on which capitalism rests. Not without reason the exploiting classes view the successes of socialist society and its irrefutable advantages over capitalism as a sentence passed on the capitalist system.
Being unable to overturn the world socialist system either militarily or economically, imperialism's chieftains have launched a frenzied ideological campaign against socialism. They go to all lengths 442 to undermine the trust of the working people of the socialist countries in socialist and communist ideals and embellish capitalism, in order ideologically to disarm the peoples of the socialist countries. Imperialist ideologists come forward with various conceptions and programmes of " improving socialism" designed to make people believe in the possibility of a "drawing together" of socialism and capitalism, and speculate on private-- ownership mentality, indifference to politics, national narrow-mindedness and other survivals of the past in the consciousness of some people.
To promote these perfidious aims the imperialist states have a huge propaganda machinery with an extensive network of radio and TV stations, thousands of newspapers and magazines, numerous publishing houses and other means of ideological subversion.
The Communist parties and the peoples of the socialist countries are fully aware that the modern world has become an arena of a bitter and uncompromising class struggle, a struggle between two ways of life, two ideologies, a struggle for people's minds and hearts. Behind these opposing ideologies are opposing interests and objectives. It is clear, therefore, that peaceful coexistence between communist and bourgeois ideologies is inconceivable. This being the case the Communist parties consider that one of their most important tasks is to fight against imperialist ideology and the survivals of the past in the minds of people.
The Communists are resolutely upholding their ideas because only socialist ideology corresponds 443 to the essential requirements of society's progressive development. Socialist ideology alone can fully express the interests and aspirations of the working people, their irresistible desire to build communism, the most just and perfect society. Socialist ideology is standing on firm positions for behind it is the unconquerable truth of life.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Assistance to Developing CountriesPledged to the Marxist-Leninist principles of proletarian internationalism, socialist countries place their economic and military might and their political prestige at the service of peace and social progress. By restraining imperialism's aggressive aspirations they effectively help the peoples fighting for national and social liberation and furnish them extensive moral, political and material support, including aid in weapons. Such support and aid has been and is being made available to the peoples of Vietnam, the Arab states and many other countries. The young national states regard the world socialist system as their true and dependable defender against imperialist encroachments.
Only a powerful economic base can ensure durable political independence. Bearing this in mind the socialist community helps the young national states to build up and develop their national economy, throw off the oppression of imperialist monopolies and make good their economic lag. The economic ties between the socialist countries and the developing states are strengthening from year to year: foreign trade is expanding, economic, 444 scientific and technical assistance is increasing and credits are granted on favourable terms.
The Soviet Union, for example, trades with 70 developing states in Asia, Africa and Latin America, supplying them with machines and equipment, raw materials and fuel.
Socialist countries help the developing states in building industrial enterprises and other projects, in designing and prospecting. Sixty developing Asian, African and Latin American countries are building more than 2,000 industrial enterprises, installations and other projects with the economic and technical assistance of the CMEA countries.
In contrast to the imperialist powers who found it advantageous to keep their colonies and semicolonies economically backward and dependent, socialist countries are helping young independent states build up their industry and train their own specialists. They sell them equipment and machines necessary to carry through industrialisation. More than two-thirds of the economic assistance of the socialist countries is channelled into industrial development.
An important aspect of the socialist community's economic and technical assistance is that it promotes the establishment and expansion of the state sector in the developing countries. This creates fabourable conditions for promoting the growth of the productive forces in these countries, helps them solve economic problems and strengthens the positions of the national economy in its struggle against capitalist monopolies.
445At present the Soviet Union is assisting developing states in building more than 700 industrial and other projects.
With Soviet assistance India has already built or is building more than 60 large industrial enterprises, farms and educational institutions, including iron and steel works in Bokaro and Bhilai, a heavy engineering plant in Ranchi and a heavy electrical equipment factory in Hardwar.
In the Arab Republic of Egypt 80 industrial enterprises and other projects have been built and put in operation with Soviet assistance. Egyptian and Soviet specialists and workers built the High Aswan Dam, one of the largest in the world.
The Soviet Union is extending large-scale economic and technical assistance to Algeria, Republic of Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Mali, Syria and other countries. The GDR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia are also assisting developing states.
Socialist countries grant the young national states big loans and credits (usually long-term) on favourable terms. The Soviet Union, for example, has granted Algeria a long-term credit to finance the construction of an iron and steel works. Large credits have been extended to developing countries by Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia. The total credits granted by the socialist community amount to more than 4,500 million rubles. The socialist countries admit to their educational institutions young people from developing countries and train specialists for different branches of the economy and culture.
446In these circumstances the imperialist states can no longer employ brutal and undisguised forms of colonial exploitation. In some cases they are compelled to reduce interest rates on credits, prolong repayment terms, and so forth. Consequently, the socialist system deals a telling blow at the imperialist neo-colonialist policy.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The World Proletariat SupportsThe Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist system embody the dream of a working people's promised land. Now the international proletariat has such a land. The peoples of the socialist countries are erecting the edifice of a new world on vast territories in Europe and Asia, and in Cuba. The socialist system is not only an inspiring example for the part of humanity which is living under capitalism; it is also a mighty material and ideological force which greatly facilitates the struggle for peace, democracy and socialism. That is why the international working class cherishes and defends the socialist community as the chief base of the world revolutionary movement.
It was only natural that the aggression of US imperialism against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam produced a great wave of world-wide indignation. Together with other democratic sections of working people, the working class in capitalist countries organised formidable political demonstrations in support of the Vietnamese people. Dockers and seamen refused to load weapons to 447 be used in the war against Vietnam and many countries furnished the Democratic Republic of Vietnam economic and military aid. The working class and other anti-imperialist forces formed a powerful front of struggle against US aggression which enabled the Vietnamese people not only to hold their ground but also to be victorious.
The international proletariat is displaying special concern for the Republic of Cuba. "Hands off Cuba,'' demand the workers, peasants and democratic intelligentsia in reply to the imperialists' economic blockade and military provocations against Cuba. This slogan is supported by the democratic forces of Latin America, the United States, Canada, Western Europe and the peoples of the developing countries.
The world proletariat greatly values the GDR, the first German socialist state which has ushered in a new era in the life of the German people. The efforts of reactionary Western circles to eliminate the socialist gains of the German people got a powerful rebuff from both the socialist countries and broad democratic forces throughout the world. As a result of the persistent efforts of the working people of the GDR and the active support of these efforts by the world socialist community, the imperialist blockade of the GDR was pierced and the socialist state of the German people received international recognition.
Supported by progressive people throughout the world the internationalist unity of the socialist countries and the world working class is developing and gaining in strength.
448There are still many problems to solve and difficulties to overcome. But the most important thing is that the majority of the socialist countries, having built lasting foundations for the new system, are now shifting to the construction of a developed socialist society. And however difficult the internal and external problems of the socialist community and its individual members may seem, they do not determine the image of world socialism. It is determined by the steady growth of the economic potential and the socio-political maturity of the socialist countries, their advance towards socialism and communism, their mounting desire for political unity and all-round co-operation.
[449] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER VII __ALPHA_LVL1__ TRANSITION TO COMMUNISM---In the first chapter we mentioned the fact that in its historical development mankind passed through a series of successive stages: the primitivecommunal, the slave-owning, the feudal and the capitalist systems. The third chapter dealt with the new era which was opened in the history of the peoples of Russia and simultaneously in the history of the whole of mankind on November 7, 1917.
In those glorious days Russia launched the construction of a new society, thus bringing humanity on to the path of abolishing the exploiting system and establishing socialism throughout the world. The transition from capitalism to socialism began on a world-wide scale.
Today two main forces, socialism and capitalism, are standing in opposition to each other. Their struggle, their competition, has embraced all spheres of human activity. In the first place they are competing in the spheres of economic development and the scientific and technological __PRINTERS_P_449_COMMENT__ 29--2052 450 revolution, and also in science and education, health protection, living standards and other fields. In this competition socialism is steadily building up strength and improving its positions. Capitalism, on the other hand, is declining; it is losing its positions and its sphere of domination is shrinking.
The contention between world socialism and world capitalism, the continually deepening worldwide struggle between the forces of socialism, peace and democracy, on the one hand, and the forces of imperialism, reaction and aggression, on the other, is called the contemporary revolutionary process. Clearly it is a continuation of the revolutionary movement of the past epochs, i.e., of the age-old struggle of the masses for social justice and freedom for the people of labour. At the same time it is a qualitatively new stage of this struggle, one at which the ideals of the working people are translated into reality as the world socialist revolution launched by the October Socialist Revolution in Russia continues to develop successfully. It can be said, therefore, that the worldwide socialist revolution constitutes the substance of the contemporary revolutionary process.
Since the October Revolution this process has passed through several stages in its development each of which was characterised by society's advance from capitalism to socialism.
At the first stage, capitalism, as a result of the victory of the October Socialist Revolution, lost its former undivided world supremacy, with the emergence of a new, socialist system, which is continuously developing and gaining in strength.
451Socialism, which prior to 1917 was only a theory inspiring revolutionary workers to fight against capital, after the October Socialist Revolution became a real, living and rapidly developing society, the practical cause of millions of people. In an unprecedentedly short historical period the socialist system raised the country from age-old backwardness to the heights of modern social, industrial, scientific and cultural development. All this multiplied the attractive force of socialist ideas and under their influence the revolutionary movement of the world working class increased in scope and scale.
Having emancipated the numerous nations and nationalities of former tsarist Russia, the Great October Revolution gave a mighty impetus to the national liberation struggle of the colonial peoples. The crisis of the colonial system of imperialism began after 1917. Capitalism sustained a blow of tremendous force which sharply exacerbated its internal contradictions and accelerated its decline and stagnation.
Needless to say, capitalism did all it could to consolidate its internal position and even resorted to terroristic forms of dictatorship of the monopolies (nazism in Germany, fascism in Italy). Imperialism waged ruthless colonial wars in order to suppress the liberation movement. But all to no avail. Internal objective contradictions of the capitalist system continued their destructive work. Their effect was intensified by the successes of socialism which was demonstrating its superiority first and foremost by the fast and stable rates of __PRINTERS_P_451_COMMENT__ 29* 452 economic development in the USSR. Between the First and Second World wars capitalism experienced further severe political, economic and social upheavals, the heaviest of which were caused by the world economic crises of 1929--33 and 1937--38.
The second stage of the development of the contemporary revolutionary process is connected with the Second World War and its results. The victory of the Soviet Union and the anti-Hitler coalition over fascism and nazism led to a rapid growth of democratic and revolutionary forces throughout the world. The peoples of a number of European and Asian countries cast off the capitalist yoke and established People's Democracies choosing the socialist road of development. This meant that the sphere of capitalist supremacy became still narrower, and socialism, which developed into a world system, became a major factor of international life.
At the same time the colonial system began to fall apart. A very important role in this was played by the victory of the people's democratic revolutions in China, Korea and Vietnam and the added stimuli it gave to the struggle of other peoples in Asian and African countries. India, Indonesia and the countries of former French Indochina demanded independence, forcing desperately resisting colonialists to retreat.
Serious changes also took place in the life of the capitalist states themselves. The influence of the working class and its vanguard---the Communist parties---increased. Drawing their lesson from the war against fascism, the people kept a sharp 453 eye on the manoeuvres of the reaction and more than once frustrated its attempts to restore the fascist order in one or another country.
As a result of all these changes the balance of forces in the world turned substantially in favour of democracy and socialism, further deepening the internal contradictions of the capitalist system.
Imperialism and above all the USA, capitalism's chief country and its bulwark, desperately tried to alter the course of events, to hinder the rapid growth of socialism and suppress the progressive forces in the capitalist countries.
For this purpose it launched the cold war and set up a system of aggressive military blocs, including NATO in Europe and North America, and SEATO in Southeast Asia. The imperialist strategists proclaimed a policy of "rolling socialism back''. But the socialist camp steadily gained in strength in spite of the attempts to undermine it. Neither did the large-scale anti-communist and anti-labour campaigns in the capitalist countries produce any results. The class struggle continued to expand.
New and exceptionally important events took place in the world at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s. It was in those years that the Cuban revolution, the first socialist revolution ever to take place in the Western Hemisphere, ended in victory; it was in those years that world socialism achieved such significant and striking gains as the launching of the world's first sputnik and the world's first manned orbital flight, both carried out by the Soviet Union; it was in those 454 years that tens of Asian and African nations smashed the fetters of colonialism and many new independent states came into being. Finally, despite counter-measures undertaken by proprietors and governments subservient to them, class battles in the capitalist countries entered a new stage, assuming much greater proportions than ever before in the post-war history of the working class.
All this signified that the contemporary revolutionary process entered its third stage, which, and this is most important, did not set in as a result of war, but in the course of peaceful coexistence and competition between the two systems. This circumstance exposed the myth long circulated by the bourgeoisie and the ``Left''-wing revisionists in the working-class movement, namely that socialism was a system which only war could call to life. It proved that the Communists correctly assert that socialism is bound to triumph in any conditions because it has indisputable advantages over capitalism which is doomed to extinction by its own vices.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Imperialism's Futile Attempts to Adapt ItselfIn our day social progress is developing at an ever increasing pace.
Imperialism has sustained major setbacks in the recent decades. Besides losing world supremacy it has also come up against the powerful socialist system whose influence in many spheres is much greater than that of monopoly capital. At 455 the same time wherever capitalist relations are still predominant, imperialism's positions are coming under the mounting attacks of the working class, the peasantry, the intelligentsia and even the urban petty bourgeoisie. On the whole the balance of forces in the world is becoming less and less favourable for the capitalist system.
Naturally, the successes of the forces fighting for radical reorganisation of society are causing modern imperialism to fight back with mounting fury.
Imperialism with its huge production machinery, including a military-industrial complex, is still a powerful adversary; it has large, well-equipped armies and a ramified system of propaganda directed at ideologically brainwashing the people. All this is used against the forces of socialism, against the working people.
Yet, from their own bitter experience, imperialist politicians know that they will never gain ascendancy in the struggle against socialism whose might is increasing at an ever faster pace. Searching for a way out of the situation modern imperialism manoeuvres; it tries to be more flexible, changes its strategy and tactics and resorts to more refined methods and forms of struggle. Such are its chief features today. This conclusion reached by the 24th CPSU Congress is supported by Marxists-Leninists throughout the world.
In this connection the CC CPSU Report to the Congress pointed out: "The features of contemporary capitalism largely spring from the fact that it is trying to adapt itself to the new situation in the 456 world. In the conditions of the confrontation with socialism, the ruling circles of the capitalist countries are afraid more than they have ever been of the class struggle developing into a massive revolutionary movement. Hence, the bourgeoisie's striving to use more camouflaged forms of exploitation and oppression of the working people, and its readiness now and again to agree to partial reforms in order to keep the masses under its ideological and political control as far as possible. The monopolies have been making extensive use of scientific and technical achievements to fortify their positions, to enhance the efficiency and accelerate the pace of production, and to intensify the exploitation and oppression of the working people.''
Bourgeois propagandists and scholars even maintain that contemporary capitalism has changed to such a degree that it has ceased to be capitalism. Obviously, they want to ``prove'' that revolutionary struggle is no longer necessary, that the capitalist system is ``automatically'' becoming harmless to the working people.
This is not true. Capitalism has not changed its nature. It is the selfsame exploiter system alien to the working people.
A characteristic feature of contemporary capitalism is the gigantic growth in the concentration of capital, i.e., the accumulation of the nation's wealth in the hands of a steadily narrowing group. Sixty families in the USA, 100 multi-millionaires in the FRG and 200 families in France are the real masters of these countries. Modern monopoly 457 capitalism is the super-exploiter which oppresses the entire nation.
Furthermore, it is developing more and more into state-monopoly capitalism. This means that the power of the monopolies and the power of the state have merged into a single mechanism controlled by capitalist magnates.
The monopolies use the state primarily for their own enrichment. The state places advantageous orders with them and reduces their taxes (all, of course, at the expense of the working people whose tax burden is increasing). The state subsidises industrial enterprises which have become unprofitable to private capital or are in need of large capital investments (e.g., railways and coal mines), and exploits them in the interests of the monopolies.
At the same time imperialism with state assistance tries to attenuate the deep contradictions undermining the capitalist system. The state carries through measures regulating the economy in order to overcome the anarchy of production, avert economic crises or at least make them less damaging, and ensure more or less steady rates of economic growth. The successes of socialism in the competition with capitalism force the latter to pay more and more attention to the "state of health" of its economy.
Monopoly capitalism also speculates on the scientific and technological revolution which has brought about substantial changes in the industrial structure. New industries---electronic engineering, atomic power engineering, rocket production and 458 others---have been established. This has called for enormous capital investments and to a certain extent livened up production.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that capitalism uses scientific and technical achievements chiefly for the needs of the war industry. Military allocations have reached unprecedented figures. Over the past few years NATO has been expending almost $10,000 million a month or almost $330 million daily on war preparations. In the past five years the USA spent about $500,000 million on military needs. Another important reason for such heavy outlays has been the desire to ``envigorate'' the economy and secure its faster and more even development.
It follows that despite its efforts to adapt itself to the new situation, capitalism does not change its essence. That is why neither by manoeuvring nor by any other means will capitalism succeed in ridding itself of its chief ailments. The CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress made the point that "adaptation to the new conditions does not mean that capitalism has been stabilised as a system. The general crisis of capitalism has continued to deepen."
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Crisis of Capitalism Is DeepeningWhat is a general crisis of capitalism? There are economic crises which now and then shake the economy of capitalism, and there are political crises when the struggle of the classes in one or another state results in an explosion. The 459 general crisis of capitalism embraces its economy, policy and ideology. It is not a transient affliction, but a chronic, steadily progressing disease, characterised by such a deep exacerbation of all the contradictions of capitalism that the latter is no longer able to maintain its sway over the nations, which one after another sunder their chains and take the wide road of socialism. The general crisis of capitalism is an historic period of the weakening and collapse of the capitalist system and the victory of the socialist system.
At each successive stage of its development the general crisis of capitalism manifested itself in diverse forms. Its most significant manifestation in our day is the mounting economic instability of the capitalist system. Having accelerated the process of socialisation of production, state-- monopoly capitalism has exacerbated the contradiction between the social character of modern productive forces and private capitalist relations of production. Neither was it an accident that in spite of all its efforts to regulate the economy, capitalism suffered three major crises in the post-war period (1948--49, 1957--58 and 1969--71). The fourth and biggest post-war crisis broke out in 1974 and is still continuing.
In 1967 and 1968 a monetary crisis descended on the capitalist system. Some capitalist states devalued their currency more than once. The US dollar, which for many years ``guaranteed'' the stability of the bourgeois system of international accounts, was devalued in December 1971 and February 1973. But the capitalist monetary 460 systern has been unable to regain its former stability, and exchanges in all Western countries are in a state of constant fever.
Modern technical means make it possible to give all of humanity a prosperous, comfortable life. But capitalism uses scientific and technological progress as an instrument of still more brutal exploitation of the working people, while the introduction of scientific and technical achievements leads to a growth of unemployment. In the beginning of 1975 there were more than 12 million unemployed in advanced capitalist countries. In February that year the number of unemployed in the USA was estimated at eight million, and unemployment is still on the upsurge. At the same time millions of peasants, farmers and small urban proprietors are forced into bankruptcy.
The further aggravation of the general crisis of capitalism also reveals itself in the intensification of economic and political contradictions between the capitalist countries. Capitalism's postwar history shows that the law of uneven economic and political development of capitalist countries formulated by Lenin continues to operate with unrelenting force. In the first post-war years the USA took advantage of the weakened positions of capitalist Europe and Japan to establish almost complete supremacy over the economy of the capitalist world. With time, however, the situation changed. The economic development of the USA's rivals increased sharply and its share in world production and trade began to decline. The competitive struggle became still more acute.
461In its search for a way out of the difficulties the monopoly capital turned to new methods in dividing and recarving markets and spheres of influence. For instance, as far back as the 1950s a closed state-monopoly group---the Common Market---was formed in Europe. At first it consisted of the FRG, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg, which were later joined by Great Britain, Denmark and Ireland. And, of course, the monopolies of these countries benefited enormously. They acquired temporary additional stimuli for industrial development and particularly foreign trade. At the same time, however, they came up against fresh difficulties and problems. The trade war between the Common Market and the other capitalist countries became more vicious, and rivalry within the Common Market itself is just as ruthless.
Nor have the monopolies in other parts of the world, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, have ceased to fight one another. Acting in a united front against the working-class movement and national liberation revolutions capitalists in the economically advanced countries are at the same time continuing to fight between themselves for influence in various parts of the world, for raw materials sources, chiefly oil, and rare and non-ferrous metals, and for spheres of investment.
The main centres of imperialist rivalry became clearly defined by the beginning of the 1970s: they are the USA, Western Europe (chiefly Common Market countries) and Japan. The 462 economic and political struggle between them is becoming more and more intense and is characterised by such methods as the ban imposed by US official authorities on the import of a steadily growing list of commodities from Europe and Japan, the attempts of the European countries to limit the influx of US capital and acute monetary conflicts.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Growth of Political ReactionThe general crisis of capitalism embraces not only the economy. Modern capitalism lacks internal stability and is subject to frequent upheavals in the political sphere, too. This is evidenced primarily by the fact that imperialism is clearly losing its ability to rule by the old, so-called tested methods.
When the bourgeoisie was rising to power and fought against the feudal lords its slogans were liberty, equality, fraternity, i.e., the slogans of bourgeois democracy. But the transformation of capitalism from a society of free competition into imperialism wrought a sharp change in its policies. Promotion of reaction, persecution and brutal suppression of revolutionary and democratic forces became the main political line of the imperialist states; fascism, the most flagrant, open and terroristic dictatorship of the monopolies, came into being.
But the peoples of the world, those of the Soviet Union in the first place, dealt fascism a 463 crushing blow in the Second World War. Having seen for themselves that fascism spells war, death and destruction, and suppression of the rights and liberties of man, the peoples resolutely oppose any fascist trends in politics. Suffice it to recall the heroic battles of the French working class and all French democrats to thwart a fascist coup which reactionary military circles were preparing in the 1960s, and the selfless struggle of the Italian working people against neo-fascist sorties.
In such circumstances imperialism acts more cautiously, often camouflaging dictatorial methods of government with parliamentary systems devoid of democratic substance. It also resorts to other methods to disguise and embellish the antipopular, exploitative character of the bourgeois system. But this does not alter the basic political tendency of imperialism. The monopolies are still intent on destroying or at least on curtailing to the greatest possible extent the democratic rights of the people and depriving them of elementary freedoms. Many democratic organisations are outlawed and, therefore, forced to go underground, and thousands of fighters for the cause of the working class and peace are thrown in prisons.
The political crisis of the contemporary imperialist bourgeoisie is accompanied by a deepening crisis of bourgeois ideology. What is meant by the crisis of bourgeois ideology?
For many decades the ideologists of capitalism maintained that private property was inviolable and that capitalism was eternal. In the past several decades the world has found that this 464 proposition was false. A third of mankind now lives without private property, without capitalism and is much better off than prior to the abolition of capitalist order.
Many bourgeois ideological trends are still trying to prove the alleged superiority of the white man and claim that white people are destined to bring civilisation to Asian and African countries. But bourgeois ``civilisers'' owned colonies for centuries, and what did they implant there? Poverty, oppression and ignorance. Only abolition of colonial oppression has opened the road to freedom and modern civilisation before the peoples of Asia and Africa.
Finally, many bourgeois theories assert that war is man's natural state and that peace is but respite between wars. Such theories are obviously designed to justify imperialist policy and aggressive wars. War, however, is a natural state only for the exploiting system. The experience of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries convinces the peoples of the world that the new, highest social system---communism---will rid humanity of the terrible scourge of war.
Thus, life itself has overturned and disproved all the principal premises of bourgeois ideology. The gap between bourgeois ideology and real life is widening all the time making this ideology increasingly anti-popular and reactionary.
The main aim of modern bourgeois ideology is to fight communism. Therefore, anti-communism is its principal trend. Anti-communism has also become the most important trend of the policy of 465 bourgeois states. Anti-communist ideology misrepresents the Marxist-Leninist teaching, vilifies the socialist social system, falsifies the communist policy and tasks and justifies the persecution of democratic peace-loving forces and organisations. The imperialist reaction is concentrating its main efforts against the Soviet Union in the hope of discrediting its historical achievements and slandering the experience of the Soviet people's struggle for communism. Anti-Sovietism is the cornerstone of modern anti-communist policy and ideology.
Anti-communism is one of the most vivid manifestations of the crisis of bourgeois ideology. While formerly, at the dawn of capitalism, the bourgeoisie in its struggle against feudal reaction did advance some sort of progressive ideas, anticommunism is an ideology resting exclusively on destructive principles and it offers the masses no positive, promising ideas whatsoever. It only `` rejects'', ``refutes'' and ``anathemises''.
It is clear, however, that neither anti-- communism nor other vagaries of bourgeois ideology can save the moribund social system. Violence and falsification, lies and misrepresentation of facts cannot halt the objective course of events and mitigate the social contradictions which are sundering capitalism. The class struggle in the capitalist countries is gaining momentum. The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America are intensifying their resistance against imperialist oppression, and the revolutionary struggle of the masses for democracy and socialism is mounting in all countries, in all corners of the capitalist world.
__PRINTERS_P_465_COMMENT__ 30---2052 466 __ALPHA_LVL2__ REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTThe current far-reaching revolutionary changes are above all a result of the heroic struggle of the international working class. In its Report to the 24th CPSU Congress the Central Committee of the CPSU made the following observation: "The international working-class movement continues to play, as it has played in the past, the role of timetested and militant vanguard of the revolutionary forces. The events of the past five-year period in the capitalist world have fully borne out the importance of the working class as the chief and strongest opponent of the rule of the monopolies, and as a centre rallying all the anti-monopoly forces.''
With more than 570 million people in its ranks the working class today is an immense economic and socio-political force which produces the bulk of the material values and determines the character of the contemporary epoch and the main trend of historical development.
The world proletariat consists of two main contingents: the free working class of the socialist countries and the proletariat of the non-socialist states which is fighting for its emancipation. They have the same ideals and a single ultimate aim, but they live in different conditions and solve different problems. The close union and mutual 467 support of these two contingents is the key to their successes and an earnest of their common victory.
The working class of the non-socialist world is heterogeneous. It includes the proletariat of the industrially developed capitalist states, which has been tempered in class battles, and the budding working class of the countries fighting to consolidate their national independence. Naturally, they operate in different conditions and employ different forms and methods of struggle.
Two basic factors determine the role of the working class of the industrial states in the world revolutionary process.
The first factor is the place which these states occupy in the capitalist system. Industrially advanced capitalist states of North America and Western Europe and also Japan and Australia are the citadel of modern capitalism accounting for its main economic, political and military forces. The final victory of the socialist revolution on a world scale depends on the liquidation of the capitalist order in these states.
All contemporary revolutionary forces are contributing to the struggle against capitalism, but each employs its own specific methods and means.
The world socialist system is the decisive factor bridling the reactionary, aggressive forces; it is the main force and material base of the world revolutionary struggle.
Moreover, the socialist system undermines the mainstays of capitalism by demonstrating the __PRINTERS_P_467_COMMENT__ 30* 468 advantages of socialism to millions of people. It wins the sympathies of the masses and helps spread socialist ideas.
Having destroyed the colonial system of imperialism the national liberation movement is now undermining the capitalist world by depriving it of markets and sources of raw materials and opposing the aggressive policies of monopoly capital.
However powerful these forces may be, they cannot by themselves eliminate the capitalist system in the imperialist countries. But their struggle creates favourable conditions for solving this problem, and it is up to the working class of the imperialist states to solve it. Only the working class in alliance with all working people, with the broadest sections of the population is powerful enough to overturn the rule of the monopolies and lead their countries along the path of social progress.
The second factor which determines the place of the working class of the advanced capitalist states in the world revolutionary movement is the position it has won, its numerical strength, discipline, level of organisation and its experience of revolutionary struggle. Numerically the proletarians of these countries account for nearly 40 per cent of the world working class.
The bourgeoisie and its ideologists are doing all they can to weaken the proletariat's influence in society and undermine its self-confidence. Western bourgeois propagandists claim that its numbers are decreasing, its role diminishing and its 469 influence is not mounting. Plainly these assertions hold no water.
``Accumulation of capital is ... increase of the proletariat,"^^*^^ Marx wrote. The development of modern industry leads to a continuous growth of the industrial proletariat's ranks. Introduction of industrial methods in agriculture turns the labour of agricultural workers into a variety of industrial labour, and the expansion of the service industry increases the number of proletarians employed in it. Finally, more and more whitecollar workers, engineers and technicians in the developed capitalist countries are becoming proletarianised. They are approaching the working class as regards their social status and are supporting it in its struggle against capital.
The following figures are significant: a century ago four major imperialist powers---the USA, Britain, France and Germany---had a total of 8.9 million proletarians. By the turn of the century their number rose to 29.9 million and in the middle of the 20th century the USA, Britain, France and the FRG had 87 million proletarians. Today the total number of industrial and white-collar workers in industrially advanced countries has surpassed 220 million, or more than 70 per cent of their gainfully employed population.
But, as Marx pointed out, "numbers weigh only in the balance, if united by combination and led by knowledge".^^**^^
_-_-_^^*^^ K. Marx, Capital, Vol. I, p. 614.
^^**^^ K. Marx and F. Engels, Selected Works, Vol. II, Moscow, 1969, p. 17.
470The organised working-class movement first appeared in the industrially advanced capitalist states. Since the middle of the 19th century the working class of Western Europe and North America has accumulated extensive experience of revolutionary struggle and written notable pages into the history of the world revolutionary movement.
The vanguard organisations of the proletariat--- the Communist parties---were born and tempered in the flames of class battles. Today there are more than three million Communists in industrially advanced capitalist countries. In many of them Communist parties have become an influential national force leading wide sections of the working people.
Other mass organisations of the working people, trade unions, co-operative societies, unions of women and young people, in the first place, also appeared and developed, and now play an important role in the social and political life of the capitalist world.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ New ConditionsThe struggle of the working class in advanced capitalist countries is now unfolding under new historical conditions characterised by two basic features. The first is that the gradual transformation of the socialist system into a decisive force of world development steadily narrows the potentialities of imperialism in its struggle against the 471 working class not only on the world scene but also inside each given country. The second feature springs from the changed situation in the imperialist countries themselves, namely, the rapid growth of state-monopoly capitalism. The coalescence of the monopolies and the state intensified the exploitation of the working people and, consequently, the class struggle.
The 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties noted that on the whole all these developments open fresh opportunities for the working class and its organised vanguard. Obviously, however, it is not a simple matter to take advantage of these opportunities inasmuch as the working people have to contend with modern monopoly capitalism, an experienced and cunning enemy. Yet, despite the efforts of the monopolies, the balance of forces in the capitalist world is continuing to swing in favour of democracy and progress.
This process, naturally, does not develop on its own. In present-day conditions it is most important to heighten the conscious activity of the working people and concentrate their forces in the struggle for the set objectives. Therefore, the Communists attach primary significance to consolidating the unity of action of all the detachments of the working-class movement.
The basic interests of the proletariat demand that in each country there should be a single proletarian party committed to Marxist-Leninist principles. In the capitalist countries, however, not only Communist but other parties, too, act in 472 behalf of the working class. These are chiefly Social-Democratic parties.
The existence of several political parties (and trade union organisations) of the working class is above all a result of its heterogeneous social composition. The ranks of the proletariat are continuously increased by people from urban and rural petty-bourgeois sections of the population who need some time to acquire a revolutionary world outlook. Some of them are inclined to support the Social-Democratic, Catholic and other parties rather than the Communists. What is more, the monopoly bourgeoisie bribes the small upper layer of the working class (the so-called workers' bureaucracy) thereby subordinating it to its own interests. And it is on these groups that the reformist Social-Democratic parties place their heaviest stakes.
Social-Democratic ideology is essentially designed to adapt the working-class movement to the interests of the bourgeois system. And although in their programmes Social-Democratic parties purport to work for the liquidation of capitalism, their leaders are as a rule opposed to the revolutionary transformation of society. They maintain that capitalism can be either `` improved'' or ``corrected'' through the introduction of partial changes or reforms which do not affect its substance.
It should be borne in mind, however, that Social-Democratic parties largely consist of proletarians who by no means want to perpetuate the capitalist order. On the contrary, the example set 473 by socialism and the policy of the fraternal Communist parties, and finally the increasing strain of exploitation are making a considerable part of the Social-Democrats aware of the need to fight actively for the rights of the working class. At the same time the practical activity of the SocialDemocratic parties which cannot satisfy the fundamental interests of the working man opens the eyes of the people to the inadequacy and the unfeasibility of the reformist way.
The Final Document of the 1969 Moscow Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties says: "Communists, who attribute decisive importance to working-class unity, are in favour of co-- operation with the Socialists and Social-Democrats to establish an advanced democratic regime today and to build a socialist society in the future. They will do everything they can to carry out this cooperation.'' In their struggle for the unity of the working people, the Communists have achieved certain positive results. In France, Italy, Japan and Finland Communists and all the Left-wing forces of the working-class movement have invigorated their joint activity.
Of course, it will still take a long time to settle the question of working-class unity chiefly because of the anti-communism of many SocialDemocratic leaders and the frenzied resistance of monopoly capital. Nevertheless, the Communists are confident that these difficulties are surmountable and that working-class unity will be established.
Carrying on Lenin's traditions the Communist 474 Party of the Soviet Union is doing everything it can to strengthen the unity of the international working class. The 24th CPSU Congress reaffirmed that the CPSU was prepared to develop co-operation with the Social-Democrats both in the struggle for peace and democracy and in the struggle for socialism, without making any concessions in ideology and revolutionary principles. Maintaining and expanding its ties with the Social-Democratic and Socialist parties in different countries, the CPSU is concerting its activity with the Communist parties of these states.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ For a Mighty Anti-Monopoly FrontImportant as it is, working-class unity is not the only factor of the successful struggle against imperialism, for democracy and socialism. Another crucial question is that of the proletariat's allies, i.e., of those forces which together with the proletariat are capable of waging a victorious struggle against the monopolies and then rallying around it to form a mass political army of the socialist revolution.
The working class, whose labour is the principal source of capital's fabulous profits, is the main object of exploitation. But the monopolies oppress the entire population of the capitalist states: peasants and white-collar workers, intellectuals and shopkeepers; they throttle and ruin middle and at times even large-scale 475 proprietors who do not belong to monopoly associations.
Take any capitalist country, say, the USA. Capitalist propagandists have praised it to the skies as a model of prosperity. Yet even US leaders admit that 27 million Americans (13.3 per cent of the total population) live in poverty, and from four to five million people are permanently out of work. Farmers, urban shopkeepers and other petty proprietors drift into bankruptcy.
The main contradiction of modern capitalism is still that between labour and capital. Contradictions between the monopoly elite and the whole nation are also deepening. This means that the front of the forces vitally concerned with abolishing monopoly rule is objectively expanding.
The working class, peasantry, the urban middle classes and the intelligentsia are the social forces which can form the anti-monopoly front, a coalition (alliance) of the opponents of the monopolies. History itself has destined the working class to head this coalition and lead the struggle of the broadest masses of people.
The immediate objective of these forces is to restrict and then put an end to the power of the monopolies and simultaneously consolidate and enhance the influence of the working class and democratic, anti-imperialist forces. The abolition of monopoly rule paves the way for the establishment of democratic regimes and the introduction of revolutionary socialist reforms. Thus, the policy of fighting the monopolies is in fact the realisation of Lenin's idea of combining the 476 struggle for democracy with the struggle for socialism.
If successful this policy considerably extends the range of means employed in the struggle for socialism and, in particular, increases the chances for a peaceful development of the socialist revolution in advanced capitalist countries.
This approach to the question has caused a great deal of discussion in the working-class movement. The dogmatic ``Left''-wing elements interpret this conclusion as an indication of a reformist degeneration of the Marxist-Leninist parties in Europe and America. Marxists-- Leninists deny this accusation. In their joint documents the fraternal parties clearly stated their position. They declared that the transition from capitalism to socialism is revolutionary in all cases and that the form of the revolution---- peaceful or armed---depends on the balance of class forces, the strength of the resistance put up by the exploiters, and unity of the revolutionary forces.
The Communists prefer the peaceful form of revolution and, as Lenin did, consider it necessary to "get everything possible done to make sure the `last' chance for a peaceful development of the revolution".^^*^^ At the same time they stress the need to be prepared for any form of struggle. The strength of the Marxist-Leninist parties lies precisely in their ability to employ various methods of struggle, adequately appraise any turn of events _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 60.
477 and pursue correct revolutionary policies under any and all circumstances. In all cases no advice or estimates of the situation can be given from the outside. This is solely the affair of each revolutionary detachment and its militant vanguard--- the Marxist-Leninist Party.The following question arises: is the organisation of an anti-monopoly coalition only a remote prospect, or can it be said that real progress has already been made in this direction? Life shows that the anti-monopoly front is being created before our eyes. The results of presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections between 1970 and 1975 reflect the changes taking place in advanced capitalist countries. Left-wing forces, parties and groups opposed to the monopolies won considerably more votes in France, Italy, Austria, Luxemburg, Sweden and Japan than in the previous years.
Of course, the process of the formation of antimonopoly coalitions in advanced capitalist states is still far from complete. The monopolies do everything in their power to inhibit it by provoking dissension between the working class and its natural allies and put them at loggerheads.
Yet anti-monopoly alliances are growing and gaining in strength despite the fact that the intrigues of the opponents of the working people sometimes impede the course of developments.
478 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Proletariat on the OffensiveTaking advantage of the new opportunities and relying on its own forces and those of its allies the working class is actively struggling against the monopolies, for democracy, peace and socialism. This struggle, as the 24th CPSU Congress pointed out, is on the upsurge and involves great masses of working people.
The strike is still the chief form of the proletariat's struggle for its rights and interests. There is a steady increase in the number of strikes throughout the capitalist world, especially in the economically advanced states. Between the two world wars approximately 75 million people took part in strike battles, while in the post-war years (1946--72) they involved nearly 470 million people.
The strike movement has assumed the greatest proportions in France, Italy, the USA, Japan and Great Britain.
In France and Italy, which have longer traditions of class struggle and powerful Communist parties, strikes involving millions of people, including large numbers of students, peasants, intellectuals and employees as well as proletarians, took place between 1968 and 1975. Characteristically, they were directed against the entire system of state-monopoly rule and not only against one or another monopoly group.
In Great Britain, where the class struggle has attained a high degree of intensity, strikes which took place in the period from 1969 to 1974 can be compared only with the famous 1926 strike both 479 as for their scale and the number of people involved. In the United States the workers' mass struggle for better material conditions and against unemployment is intertwined with the movement of the Black people and the struggle of the youth against the militaristic policy of monopoly capital.
The working-class movement is expanding in the FRG and Japan. In Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands the workers have intensified their struggle for their rights. Even Sweden, Norway and Denmark, countries which for decades have been regarded as ``examples'' of social tranquility, have become the scene of strike battles.
There is not a single advanced capitalist country where no serious strikes take place and where the "class peace" so desired by the proprietors really exists. It should be noted that strikes increase both in number and scope. General nation-wide strikes are becoming more frequent. In the past decade they numbered nearly 250. And, characteristically, an increasing number of strikes end in the victory of the working people.
Thus far we have dwelt on the proletariat's economic struggle, but almost all the actions of the workers on economic issues acquire a political character. French miners, for example, start their strike with demands for higher wages, better working conditions, and so forth. These demands are presented to the government for it owns the coal-mining industry. In some instances miners demand reforms in the administration of the state-owned coal industry, a revision of the 480 price system, etc. In both cases the strikers' demands either directly or indirectly touch upon the government activity and policy. Aware of its enhanced strength, the working class imperatively demands the introduction of democratic principles in production management, and workers' control over the activity of the proprietors.
At the same time the proletariat often comes forward with purely political demands, primarily for the preservation and consolidation of democratic principles and freedoms. More than 60 per cent of all strikes in capitalist countries now take place under political slogans, whereas ten years ago political strikes accounted for not more than 40 per cent of the total number.
The strike movement of the working class has an increasing impact on all aspects of life in capitalist society. It merges with the broad democratic movements of the working people and becomes a determining factor of their development.
The situation in advanced capitalist countries is growing more tense. "The large-scale actions by the working class and the working masses herald fresh class battles which could lead to fundamental social changes, to the establishment of the power of the working class in alliance with the other sections of the working people,'' states the Resolution of the 24th CPSU Congress.
481 __ALPHA_LVL2__ NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTWe have already noted that the third stage of the general crisis of capitalism is characterised by the vast scope of the national liberation movement of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America against imperialist oppression. This struggle led to the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ What Is a National Liberation MovementThe exploiting society is characterised by national as well as social oppression. Some nations, or rather their ruling classes, oppress and exploit other, weaker nations. The national liberation movement is a movement which is engendered by, and is aimed at, shaking off national oppression.
The colonial yoke is the most odious and ruthless form of national oppression. Foreign conquerors establish their sway over a country and rule her through a special administration. They plunder her wealth and savagely exploit her people. Here is a characteristic figure. According to far from complete data, between 1760 and 1850 Britain pumped £500 million out of India. It was the wealth wrung from the colonies that largely contributed to the growth of British capitalism.
The dignity of the enslaved peoples is trampled and they are declared ``inferior'' nations and nations of the "lower order''.
__PRINTERS_P_481_COMMENT__ 31---2052 482The colonialists go to all lengths to stay the economic development of the countries under their rule, because the rise of national industry would have slashed the profits of the foreign monopolies controlling the economy and markets of these countries. Moreover, it would have stimulated the growth of those social forces---the working class, the national intelligentsia and the national bourgeoisie---that are capable of challenging the rule of the colonialists.
Imperialism imposed colonial oppression in one form or another on a vast majority of the world's population. It built up a colonial system which acquired its final shape at the turn of the century. In 1939 it embraced countries with an aggregate population of approximately 1,500 million. It is hard to imagine that a mere quarter of a century ago not counting the socialist countries there were only 11 Asian and African states (today there are over 80). Almost all of them were dependent on imperialism, and most of the formally independent Latin American countries were in a similar position.
Britain was the largest colonial power. In 1938 her empire included lands on all the five continents and covered an area of 14 million square kilometres; the total population of her colonies and dependencies was 450 million. For comparison's sake let us recall that Great Britain's area was less than 250,000 square kilometres and her population was approximately 40 million. The total area of Dutch colonial possessions was 70 times bigger than the Netherlands and their 483 population was eight times larger. The destinies of almost two-thirds of the earth's population and of scores of countries were decided by the colonialists in London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Washington and Lisbon.
The enslaved peoples never reconciled themselves to their status and fought courageously against the colonialists. Suffice it to say that the conquest of India lasted 150 years and the conquest of Africa almost a century. At the time, however, the odds were fully on the side of the colonialists. Capitalism held undivided sway over the world, the socialist states did not exist, and the military superiority of the colonialists was enormous. Besides, the actions of the oppressed peoples were spontaneous and lacked co-ordination. It seemed that colonial order had come to stay. Such was the situation until the October Socialist Revolution which ushered in the era of victorious national liberation revolutions and the crisis of the colonial system.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Who Participates in the NationalTo one degree or another colonial oppression weighs upon the proletariat, the peasantry, the national bourgeoisie, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national intelligentsia, in fact, upon all or almost all the sections of the population of the enslaved countries. This determines their position and prompts them to take part in the national liberation struggle. The only exception are the feudal lords, tribal chiefs, landowners (the __PRINTERS_P_483_COMMENT__ 81* 484 mainstay of the colonialists) and a part of the local bourgeoisie which profits by servicing the foreign companies. Nevertheless, even these groups are sometimes and to a certain extent caught up in the general wave of patriotic enthusiasm.
The proletariat is the most resolute and consistent enemy of colonial oppression, the staunchest fighter for national liberation. Since it has no selfish interests it most fully expresses the fundamental aspirations of the entire people of an enslaved country. The working class suffers intensely from exploitation and racial oppression at the hands of foreign capitalists. Under the colonial rule African workers were paid one-- twentieth or one-twenty-fifth the wages received by Europeans for the same work.
The political weight of the proletariat and its influence on the country's social development is much greater than its proportion to the whole population. In almost 50 Asian, African and Latin American countries the working class has its Communist parties which hold aloft the banner of the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle.
All this determines the leading role of the working class in the national liberation movement.
Naturally, the colonial status and the resultant backwardness of the enslaved countries hinders the formation of the working class which, as a rule, is relatively small. In many countries, especially in Africa, it is still in its embryonic stage. In these countries more than 80 per cent of the proletarians are engaged in agriculture. Africa with a total population of about 300 million has 485 only four million industrial workers. Most of them are employed at small enterprises, frequently of the handicraft type, and do not become professional workers. After working in a town for a number of years they return to agricultural labour.
Things are different in some Asian and Latin American countries where the proletariat has been developing over a period of several decades and has become an influential and organised national force. Latin America has approximately 25 million industrial and agricultural workers and Asia up to 60 million.
According to UN figures the number of people engaged in the industry of economically backward countries has increased 2.5-fold in the past quarter-century.
The peasantry is the main mass force of the national liberation movement and the proletariat's chief ally. This is natural, for it makes up more than two-thirds of the population of colonial and dependent countries and is capable of conducting large-scale revolutionary action. Lack of land, extortions and the arbitrary rule of the colonial administration, and the domination of landowners and money-lenders in the countryside prompt the peasants to participate in the liberation movement.
The peasantry of the colonial and semi-colonial countries is almost wholly illiterate, scattered and unorganised and is beset by deep-rooted religious and other prejudices. Yet, it is precisely the peasants who determine the scope of the national 486 liberation movement. The awakening of the peasants and their mass action against the colonialists have played a most important role in bringing about the collapse of the colonial regimes. Who will lead the national liberation movement and consequently determine its course and subsequent results depends on whom the peasantry will follow---the working class (where there is no working class, the revolutionary intelligentsia), or the bourgeoisie.
The working class and the bourgeoisie have different attitudes to the peasantry. In contrast to the proletariat which strives to form an alliance with the toiling peasantry regarding it as a comrade, the national bourgeoisie wants to dominate the peasants and use them in its own interests.
The national bourgeoisie strives to extend its economic and political influence, enrich itself to the greatest possible extent and gain control over the country's markets. But at each step it encounters serious obstacles---the ruinous rivalry of the foreign monopolies and direct counteraction of the colonial authorities---and has to be content with meagre profits, while the lion's share flows out of the country. In Morocco, for example, on the eve of the proclamation of independence the local bourgeoisie owned less than five per cent of the assets of large capitalist enterprises.
The national bourgeoisie sees its way out in liberation from foreign dependence and the creation of an independent national state, one which will serve its interests and enable it to exploit its people without any hindrance. It is in the hope of 487 realising these plans that the national bourgeoisie is participating in the liberation movement and trying to subordinate it to its narrow class objectives. At the same time the national bourgeoisie knows that its plans are at variance with the interests of the people and fears their activity. Frequently this fear is greater than its hostility towards the foreign enslavers. As a result, the political behaviour of the bourgeoisie is contradictory. It strives to drive out the colonialists and yet often hinders the development of the national liberation movement lest it loses control over it. As it fights against the imperialists and their internal mainstay, namely, the feudal and tribal reaction, it also regards them as allies in the struggle against the ``excessive'' activities and the independence of the masses. It is this duplicity that accounts for the inconsistency, vacillations and faint-- heartedness of the national bourgeoisie.
An active role in the national liberation movements in many colonies and semi-colonies is played by the urban petty bourgeoisie which makes up a fairly large section of the population. Connected as it is with private property it often gravitates towards the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, it usually directly participates in the labour process and its material situation is very unstable. The oppression by the colonialists and ruinous competition with foreign companies and wealthy local middlemen prompt the urban petty bourgeoisie to fight for national liberation.
Although the national intelligentsia is very small in the majority of colonial and dependent 488 countries, its patriotic circles hold a prominent place in the national liberation struggle and keenly react to the racialist policies of the colonialists. Many leading functionaries of the national liberation movement belong to the intelligentsia, including the military intelligentsia.
Such are the social forces participating in the national liberation movement. In some subjugated countries where it has already emerged as an independent class force, the proletariat stands at the head of the struggle. In other countries the leadership is in the hands of the national bourgeoisie.
Finally, there are countries where owing to the weakness of both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie the struggle is headed by what is known as revolutionary democracy, i.e., representatives of the revolutionary intelligentsia supported by the politically active part of the peasantry and the urban petty bourgeoisie, and the intermediate sections of the population.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Collapse of the Colonial SystemThe colonial system began to collapse rapidly after the Second World War. During the first 12 post-war years nearly the whole of enslaved Asia became free. In the following decade a vigorous anti-colonial struggle unfolded in Africa. More than 1,500 million people, or 97 per cent of the population of the oppressed states, got rid of colonial and semi-colonial bondage.
[489] TERRITORY OF COLONIAL AND DEPENDENT COUNTRIES (per cent of world territory)
490
The British Empire which was established in the course of more than three and a half centuries fell apart in a mere two decades. Today Britain ru'les 2.2 per cent of the population and 5.5 per cent of the territory of her former possessions. By January 1972 France had lost 98.8 per cent of the territory and 98 per cent of the population of her colonies; the Netherlands, 92.5 and 99.3 per cent, respectively. Belgium, Japan and Italy have lost all their colonial possessions.
The rapid collapse of the colonial system of imperialism can be traced to several causes.
The first cause is the unprecedented growth of the might, prestige and revolutionising influence of the world socialist system. The countries of the socialist community directly support the national liberation movement, and their very existence fetters the main forces of imperialism and its war machine.
Second, imperialism has suffered serious material, ideological and political setbacks. The Second World War, which ended in the rout of its most aggressive contingents, also seriously weakened the majority of the victorious capitalist powers. There was a sharp aggravation of the general crisis of capitalism, chiefly due to the emergence of the world socialist system.
Third, the anti-imperialist, anti-colonial movements of the populations of the enslaved countries assumed vast proportions. During the war the imperialists used the material and manpower resources of the colonies to further their military plans and intensified the exploitation of the 491 working people. As a result the resistance of the enslaved peoples mounted. In the course of the war the working class in some colonies and semi-- colonies considerably increased, the Communist parties acted with great vigour and determination and national revolutionary organisations intensified their activity.
Fourth, the advanced detachments of the working class in the capitalist countries stepped up their class battles against imperialism in its centres. They resolutely opposed the colonial policy of the imperialists and unfolded a solidarity movement with the fighters for national liberation.
Fifth, the national liberation movements in various countries tightened their bonds thus enhancing the solidarity of the peoples fighting against imperialism and colonialism.
Despite the bourgeois propaganda's loud claims that the imperialists ``granted'' independence to the enslaved countries, the facts show that independence was wrested from the colonialists in the course of long and stubborn struggle conducted by all progressive forces of the world, and first and foremost by the enslaved peoples themselves.
The Statement of the 1960 Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties notes: "The breakdown of the system of colonial slavery under the impact of the national liberation movement is a development ranking second in historic importance only to the formation of the world socialist system.'' The achievement of political independence marked a deep revolutionary change in the lives of peoples of the 492 former colonies. It gave their creative forces an enormous boost, paved the way for social progress, the elimination of their monstrous economic backwardness and the revival and further development of national culture.
The peoples of the former colonies and semicolonies are joining the ranks of the builders of a new life on earth. Obviously, this is of paramount importance for the further development of the world revolution.
The collapse of the colonial system is having a beneficial effect on international relations. The more than 70 young national states which appeared as a result of the fall of the colonial empires are a force to be reckoned with. Most of them adhere to anti-imperialist positions and this curtails imperialism's influence on world politics to a still greater extent.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ A New Stage of the National Liberation MovementThe historic victories of the peoples' anti-- imperialist struggle are indisputable. But does this mean that national liberation revolutions are over and colonialism has been abolished? No. It is not as simple as all that.
Colonies still exist. The colonialists still directly rule the peoples of Zimbabwe, South Africa and a number of other countries. Tens of millions of people are still oppressed by colonial and racist regimes, and are fighting courageously for their liberation.
493Furthermore, the independence of a number of former colonies and semi-colonies is largely formal. It is true that they proclaimed independence and abolished colonial regimes and colonial administrations, that (foreign troops have been withdrawn (though not everywhere) and representatives of the native population now stand at the helm of state. But their policies are still guided by imperialist forces which now act from behind the scenes. The peoples of these countries are continuing their struggle, sometimes arms in hand, for overthrowing the domination of the neo-- colonialists and removing their puppets from power. The fight against pro-imperialist dictatorships in Latin American countries is being conducted with increasing determination. But even in countries which have won genuine political independence, and they constitute the majority, the national liberation revolution has not yet accomplished all its tasks and has not brought complete liberation. When a country wins political independence it does not necessarily mean that she has disposed of her dire colonial heritage.
Bourgeois propaganda is fond of playing up what it calls the civilising role of the imperialists in the colonies, and tries to make out that the colonialists are the benefactors of the enslaved peoples. Facts show, however, that socio-economic backwardness, which in some countries is very great, is a characteristic feature of all former colonies and semi-colonies. The colonial administration of the Gold Coast (now Ghana), a former British colony, admitted that the rate at which 494 the local population was educated would have required 3,500 years to wipe out illiteracy. In Zaire, after 60 years of Belgian rule, there was not a single native doctor, engineer, lawyer or veterinary surgeon.
More than two-thirds of the population of the non-socialist world live in former colonies and semi-colonies, and yet they account for only five per cent of its steel, six per cent of pig iron, less than eight per cent of electricity and ten per cent of footwear and textiles. Even the per capita agricultural production in these agrarian countries is a fraction of that in the industrial states.
The imperialist states adjusted the economy of the subjugated countries to their own needs, turning them into sources of oil, iron ore, diamonds, gold, ores of non-ferrous metals, cotton, peanuts, cocoa beans, coffee, bananas and oranges and other industrial and agricultural raw materials. This forcibly imposed specialisation of production assumed the most ugly forms as each country was transformed into a supplier of only one or two products.
At the same time all, or nearly all, essential manufactured goods were imported from the imperialist countries.
Now, even after the former colonies have won political independence, the imperialists have preserved and are trying to extend their dominant positions in the economy of these countries. In many of them imperialists control mining and processing industries, public utilities, insurance 495 companies and other key and most profitable branches of the economy.
It follows then, that although the winning of political independence is a vastly important achievement, it does not, however, denote the consummation of the national liberation revolution. This revolution has entered a new stage, that of winning economic independence from imperialism.
At the same time many of the young national states at this stage of the revolution prove to be a formidable force in the anti-imperialist struggle.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Capitalism or Socialism?Economic liberation from imperialism means above all the uprooting of its economic influence and creation of a national economy. It also means the creation of conditions for abolishing backwardness and the one-sided agrarian and raw material specialisation of the economy of the liberated countries, promoting a serious growth of the productive forces. Finally, it means the training of national personnel capable of assuming control in all fields of political, economic and cultural activity.
In order to achieve these aims the countries concerned have to~
dislodge the foreign monopolies from key economic positions and concentrate them in the public sector. This has to be done because only the state sector can resolutely resist the monopolies 496 and effectively promote the development of the national economy;~
resolve the agrarian problem to the benefit of the peasantry;~
release public life of the fetters of feudal and pre-feudal relations;~
launch the development of the national industry;~
establish a system of public education which will place learning and culture within reach of all people;~
take steps to democratise public life and raise living standards;~
and firmly adhere to anti-imperialist positions in international affairs in order to secure favourable external conditions for independent and progressive development.
It is these far-reaching socio-economic changes that make up the general democratic programme of the revolution at the new stage of its development.
Nevertheless, it is also necessary to decide how these problems should be solved and whether to take the capitalist road or reject it. Prior to the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, when capitalism was the undivided ruler of the world, such a question did not and could not arise. At the time the countries which managed (to win national independence had no alternative to capitalism. Today, however, they have---they can take the socialist road. And it is the new stage of the national liberation revolution that will reveal which trend will gain the upper hand.
497Class differentiation, aggravation of social contradictions and the struggle over ways of further development of the former colonies and semicolonies are the principal features of the contemporary stage of the national liberation movement. "The main thing,'' said General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev at the 24th CPSU Congress, "is that the struggle for national liberation in many countries has in practical terms begun to grow into a struggle against exploitative relations, both feudal and capitalist."
Although the struggle of the opposing trends in the socio-economic development of the liberated countries is a drawn-out process, there are already marked distinctions in their development.
Today it is possible to speak of at least three distinct groups of liberated countries: those that reject the capitalist way of development, proclaim the building of socialism as their aim and carry out deep-going anti-capitalist social reforms; those that are following the capitalist road, and lastly those that in a sense occupy an intermediate place: although their spontaneous economic development tends to orientate them on capitalism, their internal situation is uncertain and the leading class trend in social progress is as yet indefinite.
The capitalist way of development jeopardises prospects for economic liberation for the former colonies and semi-colonies, retards their emergence from socio-economic backwardness and provokes increasingly bitter contradictions. In many __PRINTERS_P_497_COMMENT__ 32---2052 498 of the countries following this path the imperialists have retained and are even consolidating their positions by broadening co-operation with the national bourgeoisie. Feudal and pre-feudal relations are making themselves felt despite the fact that steps are being taken to restrict them. The peasantry is becoming inveigled in a new system of dependence which is being established by the growing landed bourgeoisie, the kulaks. Some progress in industrial development is taking place but the ruling bourgeoisie can neither ensure a serious economic upsurge nor launch the construction of the national economy on a wide front.
What seems to be the matter? In the first place, the development of capitalism in the young national states strengthens the bonds of dependence on the world capitalist economy in which the liberated countries are in a subordinate position. The relations prevailing within this economy--- the strong dominating the weak---and the neo-- colonialist policy of the capitalist monopolies force liberated countries into still greater dependence.
Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that the main social force interested in capitalist development of the liberated countries is the national bourgeoisie. But it is still extremely weak. Besides, on account of its duplicity, it is indecisive and inconsistent and frequently co-operates with the imperialist monopolies and feudal circles, instead of attacking them.
Of course, in present-day conditions the chances for the development of capitalism in the liberated countries do not depend solely on the 499 potentialities of the national capital. For world capitalism it is a matter of paramount importance to implant capitalist relations and support the local exploiters. This is one of the principal class functions of the imperialist ``aid'' to the liberated countries. At the same time the very nature of this aid and its terms usually manifest imperialism's desire to stimulate the growth of dependent capital, which would remain under the general control of the foreign imperialist monopolies.
Resorting to devious ways the imperialist monopolies are continuing to extort a tribute of many billions from the liberated countries and often act counter to the official policies of their governments by waging a ruthless competitive struggle against local enterprise and supporting the local conservative groups which are connected with them and which oppose bourgeois reforms. Some ruling imperialist circles, because of the extremely reactionary nature of their policy or for want of other forces to rely on, are inclined to support these groups, too.
Account should be taken of the fact that it is extremely difficult to bring the former colonies and semi-colonies out of their extreme backwardness and poverty. This can be accomplished only given the solid support of the masses, their enthusiasm and unqualified determination to dedicate themselves to this cause. The development of the liberated countries along the capitalist road deepens the suffering and privations of the working people and at the same time promotes the fast enrichment of the bourgeois powers that be. In __PRINTERS_P_499_COMMENT__ 32* 500 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/FPS559/20071205/559.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.12.05) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ their efforts to suppress popular discontent the ruling groups encroach on elementary democratic freedoms. Life shows that the capitalist way of development tends to aggravate conflicts between nations engendered by the growth of reactionary nationalism.
This nationalism often imperils interstate relations and the internal development of the liberated countries and is used as an instrument by the privileged classes and chauvinistic groups in their struggle against the progressive forces.
All progressive revolutionary-patriotic forces, naturally, reject the capitalist way and call for the completion of the national liberation revolution and the promotion of socialist development. Their position is winning the increasing support of the masses.
The ways of transition to socialism may vary depending on social relations and specific conditions in the former colonies and semi-colonies. Today many of the liberated countries have the necessary conditions to follow the non-capitalist road.
Marx, Engels and Lenin made the point that in the epoch of the transition from capitalism to socialism on a world scale the backward countries do not necessarily have to pass through the capitalist stage of development. They can, provided they rely on the support of states of the victorious proletariat, shift to socialist construction bypassing capitalism.
Naturally, this road to socialism has many distinctive features. Countries following it eliminate 501 survivals of feudal and other pre-capitalist relations, and build up a genuinely national economy with modern productive forces in industry and agriculture. A nation is formed, a working class appears and comes to play an increasing role in public life; scientific socialism wins stronger positions and national intelligentsia is trained. In other words, all the historical work which the modern imperialist states carried out in the period of capitalism takes place during the transition to socialism bypassing capitalism.
That is why the non-capitalist way is characterised by a number of major democratic tasks. Their solution is the main content of the first stage of non-capitalist development. This stage may be described as democratic. Of course, it is a special kind of democracy which has an anti-- capitalist as well as anti-imperialist and anti-feudal orientation and paves the way for the transition to a higher stage in the course of which mainly socialist problems are solved. Obviously the transition to the non-capitalist way has to be guided by a power which expresses the interests of the working people and alters the social relations in conformity with these interests. In the course of non-capitalist development this power itself undergoes changes as a result of the steadily increasing influence of the emergent working class.
The republics of Soviet Central Asia and the Mongolian People's Republic built socialism bypassing capitalism. The rise of the world socialist system and the weakening of imperialism create especially favourable international conditions for 502 the non-capitalist development of the former colonies and semi-colonies.
In its Report to the 24th Congress the CPSU Central Committee pointed out that a fairly large number of Asian and African countries have taken the non-capitalist path, i.e., a path of building a socialist society. These countries are carrying out deep-going socio-economic changes promoting the interests of the people and strengthening national independence. They are nationalising the property of the imperialist monopolies and strengthening the public sector, which is the economic basis of their revolutionary-democratic policy. In Burma, for example, the public sector controls over 80 per cent of the mining and about 60 per cent of the manufacturing industries.
The advanced liberated countries are carrying through agrarian reforms, establishing state and co-operative farms, introducing progressive social and labour legislation and improving conditions for augmenting the political influence of the working people.
Countries which have taken the socialist path pursue a vigorous anti-imperialist foreign policy and support the liberation movement of the oppressed peoples. They maintain friendly relations with socialist states, relying on their support in the struggle for independent and progressive development. Their revolutionary-democratic parties are promoting ties with the CPSU and other Marxist-Leninist parties.
The non-capitalist development of the former colonies and semi-colonies is a complicated 503 process. The revolutionary authority and all progressive forces not only face the need fundamentally to change the existing property relations and the spiritual life of society; they must also exert tremendous efforts to build up and develop the productive forces and simultaneously improve the welfare of the working people.
Like any revolution, non-capitalist development is accompanied by an acute class struggle. Imperialism and local reactionary elements in these countries have not abandoned the hope of pushing them back to the road of capitalist development. They endeavour to compromise the state's anticapitalist measures and prove that its interference in economic affairs is ``ineffective''. Hostile elements create economic difficulties in the hope of arousing the discontent of the masses. In their fight against the revolutionary authority reactionary circles extensively utilise as yet low level of political consciousness of fairly wide sections of the working people, tribal enmity and religious and nationalistic prejudices. With the help of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie and corrupt elements in the state and party machinery the hostile forces try to reverse the social development of countries orientated on socialism and sometimes manage to bring about a reactionary degeneration of progressive regimes. Finally, the reactionary elements are not averse to employing armed force and often place their stakes on pro-imperialist elements in the army. Being the best organised force, armies play an especially important role in the newly liberated countries.
504But no matter how difficult problems of social progress may be in these countries, they can be solved if the masses are mobilised for the task and if the democratic and revolutionary forces are united. The progressive forces in the former colonies and semi-colonies can draw upon the experience of the world liberation movement and the experience of the socialist states. This experience has been embodied in the theory of scientific socialism, in the practical achievements of the socialist states and in the way their economic, social, state and Party life is organised.
Today the successful development of the liberated countries along the road of social progress depends in ever greater measure on resolute actions countering the anti-communist and narrow nationalistic trends fostered by certain circles.
The Final Document of the 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties says: "Communists fight for the freedom, national independence and socialist future of their peoples. They are bearers of the ideas of scientific socialism and fight in the vanguard of the national liberation movement. This movement, the social progress of the peoples in the newly liberated countries demand close co-operation between the Communist and Workers' parties and the other patriotic and progressive forces. A hostile attitude to communism, and persecution of Communists harm the struggle for national and social emancipation.''
The struggle against reactionary forces and the henchmen of imperialism and neo-colonialism is 505 also taking place in many former colonies and dependencies. Very considerable progress has been made by the Indian people in this field. India has nationalised the biggest banks, deprived the princes of their centuries-old privileges and strengthened the public sector. Democratic, Leftwing forces have consolidated their positions. Serious social changes have taken place in the Republic of Sri Lanka, and the imperialist plans of dismembering Nigeria have been frustrated.
Certain changes have also taken place in the liberation movement in Latin America. The peoples of this part of the world are upholding their independence and fighting against the oppression of American monopolies with mounting determination. US imperialism's efforts to inhibit the growth of the revolutionary movement by pursuing a policy of scanty reforms carried out with the assistance of certain local bourgeois circles are of no avail. Ever larger sections of workers, peasants, urban petty bourgeoisie and patriotic intelligentsia are becoming aware that only a resolute fight against imperialism and revolutionary break-up of the outdated social order will open the road to genuine freedom, democracy and socialism. Even the patriotic sections of the clergy and the army, which just recently constituted the bulwark of imperialism and reaction, are beginning to join the liberation movement.
The working class led by the Communist parties plays a vanguard role in the anti-imperialist struggle in many Latin American countries, and in rallying all revolutionary forces.
506The trend towards an independent foreign policy course and expansion of ties with the socialist states is developing with growing persistence in these countries. The policy of isolation and blockade of Cuba is heading towards complete bankruptcy. Latin America is turning into a major seat of revolutionary struggle, acquiring increasing international importance in this respect.
Historic social changes are taking place in all formerly enslaved countries, faster in some, slower in others. And in spite of occasional reverses this process is gaining momentum and strength and developing in width and depth.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Imperialism Remains the Chief EnemyAs has always been the case the national liberation movement encounters the furious resistance of imperialism which remains the chief enemy of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The imperialists cannot reconcile themselves to the fact that they are losing control over hundreds of millions of people and are being deprived of the opportunity of exploiting enormous riches and utilising extensive territories as military and strategic bases.
They are doing their utmost to hold on to the remaining colonies, counterattacking at the first opportunity in the hope of encroaching on the gains made by the peoples. The imperialists strive to turn the political independence of countries 507 where colonial regimes had been abolished into a screen behind which they could continue their sway. For this purpose they employ the usual colonial methods: they place their henchmen in power, impose unequal agreements, they resort to putsches, military occupation and armed aggression, bribery, blackmail and deception, assassinate progressive leaders, foment discord between tribes and nationalities and fan religious strife. If they could the imperialists would have tried to subdue the resistance of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America with fire and sword. But in the present international situation it is impossible to stake chiefly on direct military action as a means of suppressing the freedom of the peoples.
The existence of the two world systems and the struggle between them force the imperialists to manoeuvre, make concessions and to guide themselves in the relations with the newly liberated countries not only by considerations of immediate economic and political advantages, but also by the interests of their global strategy and plans to prevent these countries from taking the road of social progress.
The system of measures and methods now employed by imperialism to keep the liberated countries in subjection has been called neo-- colonialism.
US imperialism is the main bulwark of neocolonialism, for it is the American imperialists who pursue a most extensive neo-colonialist policy. Their favourite method is to effectuate their colonial policy behind a screen of democratic 508 veriage and pose as advocates of anti-- colonialism.
The remaining colonial regimes in Africa and other parts of the world would have collapsed a long time ago were it not for support by US imperialist circles. Many formally sovereign Latin American states are tied in bondage to American imperialism.
Britain, France, West Germany, Japan and other imperialist states also pursue a neo-- colonialist policy.
The line of the Maoist leadership in fact helps imperialist subversion. The Chinese leaders direct their activities against the union of socialist states, the international working class and the national liberation movement. They want to isolate the national liberation movement from the political and ideological influence of world socialism and are blatantly fomenting reactionary-- nationalistic feelings and even racialist tendencies.
The splitting activities of the Chinese leaders have enormously harmed the national liberation movement. The slaughter in Indonesia, the aggravation of conditions in which the Indochinese peoples fought against US aggression, the difficulties in the development of the liberation movement in other Asian countries, the defeat of the patriotic forces in some African countries, the split within many anti-colonial and anti-racialist organisations and the death of a number of prominent leaders of the national liberation struggle in Africa are in one way or another connected with the great-Han splitting policy of the Chinese 509 leadership. Of late this policy manifested itself in the attitude of the Maoists to the developments in the Indian Subcontinent, their support for the brutal repressions of Pakistani brass against the people of Bangladesh.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ True Friends and AlliesToday the national liberation movement is not fighting imperialism single-handed: it has the support of the world socialist system and therein lies its great advantage. This support is one of the main sources of its sharply increased strength. Without it the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America could have never smashed the colonial system, they would never be given an opportunity to free themselves economically from imperialism and decide their own road of further development.
It is socialist ideology, the socialist nature of their social system that determine the position of the Soviet Union and other socialist states as true friends and allies of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The entire life of the Soviet state, its home and foreign policies rest on socialist principles which are irreconcilably hostile to all forms of oppression. In his report "The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev dwelt on the specific features of the alliance between world socialism and the forces of national liberation in modern conditions, and the principles underlying their support by the 510 socialist community. ".. .The whole world knows,'' he said, "that acting on Lenin's behests, our Party and people actively support the national liberation struggle of the peoples and the progressive policy of countries liberated from colonial oppression. In saying this we should like to stress that in present conditions, as we see it, a policy is progressive if it firmly repulses neo-colonialism and works for the consolidation of the sovereignty and independence of the young states, for their economic liberation from imperialism, for peace, for social progress and close solidarity with other progressive forces of our time, and, first and foremost, with the socialist countries.''
How do the socialist states support the national liberation movement?
First, they furnish all-round assistance to the peoples of those countries which have not yet won political freedom and are fighting against colonial regimes and puppet dictatorships imposed on them by the imperialists.
Second, they support the young national states in all spheres---political, military, economic and ideological.
In the political sphere the co-operation between socialist states and the liberated countries is spearheaded against imperialism's efforts to deprive these countries of the possibility of determining their own ways of development without foreign interference. Together with the young national states the socialist countries oppose all unequal political relations and all attempts at diktat on the part of the imperialists.
511In the military sphere the socialist states help the young national states to strengthen their defensive capacity, build up national armed forces which would defend their political independence and national interests.
In the economic sphere the socialist countries are rendering former colonies and semi-colonies all possible support in their efforts to win independence from imperialism. They furnish them direct economic and technical assistance, help them in training national personnel---engineers, technicians and skilled workers---and in developing science, culture and public health. With Soviet assistance developing countries have built or are building over a hundred cultural institutions.
Economic co-operation with the socialist countries has an enormous impact on the relations between developing states and the imperialist powers, which are often forced to make serious concessions. Such assistance on the part of the socialist countries is of the utmost significance.
In the ideological sphere the socialist states help the patriotic forces to fight against the campaign of "spiritual conquest" which the imperialists are conducting in the liberated countries. The help of the socialist states in the training of personnel and the development of education contributes to the success of the cultural revolution in these countries.
The Soviet Union's relations with the young national states are based on complete equality and mutual respect. Socialist countries have especially close, friendly relations with countries which are 512 carrying through serious socio-economic changes and are developing along the non-capitalist path. In its turn the national liberation movement appreciably helps the Soviet Union and world socialism by undermining imperialism's economic, political and ideological positions in vast areas of the world.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE WORLD COMMUNIST MOVEMENT __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]Let us glance at an old map of the world. Vast territories are covered with the colours of the imperialist states whose colonies accounted for almost the whole of Asia and Africa. Now let us take a look at the latest map of the world. A quarter of the earth's surface is taken up by the states of the socialist system. They have been established in Europe, Asia and the Western Hemisphere. Colonial territories are tiny islets in an ocean of independent states most of which came into existence in the recent decades.
The fundamental changes taking place in modern society are engendered by the objective regularities of its development which manifest themselves in the course of the conscious activity of the masses.
A characteristic feature of our epoch is the active participation of the masses in the struggle for a new life. Not more than fifty years ago some parts of the world were regarded politically dormant. Even two decades ago there were countries 513 which the capitalists called their reliable bastions where there were none and could not be any revolutionary movements.
Today all continents are scenes of some form of revolutionary movement of the masses. Socialist slogans are winning more and more people and socialism has indeed become the idea of the century. Even its sworn enemies, in an effort to conceal their reactionary plans from the people, often render it lip service.
Needless to say, not everywhere is this struggle taking place under the socialist banner, for it involves the most diverse social forces, each with its specific objectives and its own notions of the ideals of progress. But the important thing is that objectively each of these forces strikes a blow at capital. In all spheres of life capitalism has become the main obstacle to progress. In our day and age all social movements in defence of freedom and democracy in all its forms also defend the rights of the individual and, in the final analysis, contribute to the struggle for the revolutionary transformation of the world.
The CPSU Programme reads in part: " Socialist revolutions, anti-imperialist national liberation revolutions, people's democratic revolutions, broad peasant movements, popular struggles to overthrow fascist and other despotic regimes, and general democratic movements against national oppression---all these merge in a single world-wide revolutionary process undermining and destroying capitalism.''
__PRINTERS_P_513_COMMENT__ 33---2052 514 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Force Which Unites All RevolutionariesThe world communist movement is the vanguard of the contemporary revolutionary struggle. Communist parties are active in all parts of the world and everywhere the communist movement is an important factor of the unification of all revolutionary forces. Communists, true Marxists-Leninists are concentrating their efforts on the achievement of this union.
No other political trend has ever encountered such complicated problems as those which the communist movement has to contend. This is not surprising since the Communists were the first in the history of mankind to launch the socialist reorganisation of society. As a result they are constantly under enemy fire, and are not always in a position to surmount the difficulties engendered by life. The communist movement keeps developing despite all obstacles and that is an earnest of its ultimate success.
The main source of strength and vitality of the cause espoused by Communists is their scientific world outlook, their revolutionary theory---- Marxism-Leninism. As can be seen from its centuryold history Marxism-Leninism has proved to be the only teaching capable of correctly determining the general directions and the motive forces of progress, because it analyses the general laws of social development and makes a concrete study of the specific features of the revolutionary struggle in separate countries.
The Communist parties are armed with science-- 515 based strategy and tactics of revolutionary struggle for the triumph of social progress. Thanks to their strategy and tactics the working people are in a position to fight successfully in any conditions and take into account any changes that take place in the historical situation.
Proletarian internationalism is another major source of communism's strength. It is the supreme expression of the community of basic interests of the workers of different countries and the foundation of the international policy of the Communists.
For decades the capitalists have been using the poisoned weapon of bourgeois nationalism in their struggle against the working class. "It is precisely the nationalistic tendencies, especially those which assume the form of anti-Sovietism,'' states the CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress, "that bourgeois ideologists and bourgeois propaganda have placed most reliance on in their fight against socialism and the communist movement.'' The working class and the Communists counter bourgeois nationalism with proletarian internationalism.
Today proletarian internationalism denotes in the first place the solidarity of all revolutionary detachments in the common fight against imperialism and reaction, for democracy, national independence and socialism. In line with its principles each national detachment of the revolutionary working-class movement does its utmost to support the revolutionary development in other countries, protect the socialist gains of the peoples and support the socialist world.
__PRINTERS_P_515_COMMENT__ 33* 516Proletarian internationalism is the foundation of the fraternal mutual assistance of the socialist countries, the help rendered by world socialism to the national liberation movement and the allround mutual support of all the detachments of the revolutionary army of the proletariat. Defence of peace and the fight against the threat of another world war are also an inalienable feature of proletarian internationalism.
Finally, in our day the most important requirements of proletarian internationalism are defence of the Marxist-Leninist ideology as the internationalist ideology of the communist movement and the struggle for the unity of all revolutionary forces.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ For the Cohesion of CommunistsThe world communist movement is the most influential force of our time. Communism's ideological enemies in the West often try to disprove this by referring to the difficulties which have arisen in the communist movement in recent years.
Yes, there are difficulties, and at times they were very serious. Lately, Marxism-Leninism as the ideological and theoretical foundation of the communist movement has come under attack from various sides. The Chinese leadership launched the formation of splitter groups in a number of countries, calling them ``Marxist-Leninist'' parties. It is endeavouring to unite these groups to counterpose the world communist movement. Quite often 517 the Trotskyites work hand in glove with these groups. The tendency towards nationalistic selfisolation has become increasingly manifest in some countries and both ``Left''- and Right-wing opportunists have been waxing of late.
The bourgeoisie and its ideologists supported all these trends hostile to communism in an attempt to further their anti-Soviet aims. Imperialism pushed opportunist elements in Communist parties into concluding a sort of an ideological deal by intimating that it would proclaim them genuine ``Marxists'' adhering to fully " independent positions" if they first proved their anti-- Sovietism.
Developments also show that such people usually begin to fight against the Communist parties in their countries, too. This is borne out by the example of traitors such as Garaudy in France, Fischer in Austria, Petkoff in Venezuela and the Manifesto group in Italy. The Communist parties regard the struggle against both ``Left''- and Right-wing opportunism as an important factor of the strengthening of their own ranks.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has always advocated unity of the communist forces. The 23rd CPSU Congress (1966) expressed deep regret over the differences which had arisen and which played into the hands of the Communists' enemies. This, in the opinion of the CPSU, clashed with the interests of all fraternal parties, with the common interests of the communist movement.
The CPSU, all Marxist-Leninist parties concentrated on uniting the communist movement and 518 consolidating its ideological foundation. Important steps in this direction were the 1967 Conference of the European Communist Parties in Karlovy Vary and a number of other international communist meetings which discussed the question of calling an International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties. The CPSU played a major role in formulating the idea of convening the Meeting and carrying it through.
In this connection the Resolution of the 24th CPSU Congress says: "The Congress notes that in the period under review the CC CPSU has consistently pursued a line towards the cohesion of the communist ranks on a Marxist-Leninist basis, and has displayed firmness in standing up for the internationalist principles of the communist movement. Together with other Marxist-Leninist parties the CC CPSU did much work for preparing and convening the 1969 International Meeting, which was an important stride forward in strengthening the Communists' international unity and consolidating all the anti-imperialist forces, and has made a major contribution to the development of a number of propositions of MarxismLeninism. The CPSU regards the fulfilment of the programme of anti-imperialist struggle put forward by the Meeting as an important basis for strengthening unity of action by the Communist and Workers' parties, and for enhancing the role of the communist movement in the present-day world development. The CPSU favours the convocation in the future of international meetings as the need arises.''
519The truly world-wide celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the centenary of Lenin's birth, the 50th anniversary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the 150th anniversaries of the births of Marx and Engels contributed enormously to strengthening the cohesion of the communist movement. The 1969 Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties and the great revolutionary anniversaries offered additional proof of the viability of the Marxist-Leninist teaching and gave further impetus to the struggle of the fraternal parties for the interests of the working class and all working people.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Most Influential MovementThe measures which were adopted considerably strengthened the unity of the international communist movement and invigorated the fruitful bilateral and multilateral inter-Party ties.
No other result could have been expected, for the positions of the communist movement today, its place in world politics are determined by specific objective circumstances which are precisely what ensures its viability.
The influence of the communist movement in the modern world is determined above all by the fact that it expresses the interests of the working people and is a genuinely international, world-wide political organisation, more powerful and better \Velded into a single whole than any other. Today 520 nearly 90 countries have Communist parties with a total membership of more than 50 million.
The following fact shows the dynamics of the development of the communist movement: since the Second World War the number of Communists increased 2.5-fold. In 1957 there were 75 Communist and Workers' parties in the world with a total membership of 33 million. This means that in a decade and a half their number increased by over 17 million.
Communist parties are the ruling parties in the socialist countries. The successful construction of communism and socialism in socialist countries multiplies the power of world communism, furthers its unity and enhances the influence of the Communist parties in the world. This circumstance imposes a special responsibility on Communists in socialist countries, for everything that these parties do in one way or another has an impact on the entire world revolutionary process.
In many capitalist states Communist parties have developed into a force to be reckoned with, and even if they are still unable to determine the course of the development of their states, their influence on the domestic scene is becoming increasingly apparent. In Italy, France, Japan, India and some other countries the situation is such that the ruling circles have to heed communist views on many crucial issues. Further proof of the mounting influence of the Communists in the capitalist countries is the increasing number of votes which are cast for the Communist parties. In the countries of the non-- 521 socialist world where Communist parties are not banned they poll about 40 million votes.
In countries where the national liberation movement is in progress, Communist parties are fighting for the completion of the national liberation of the peoples, for social progress. And it is largely due to the Communist parties that the ideas of socialism are being regarded with increasing interest by the national liberation forces.
The militant contingent of Latin American Communists is coming to play an increasing role in the world-wide family of Communists. Communist parties, particularly in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela, have developed into a formidable political force. Steeled in furious clashes with foreign and domestic reaction Latin American Communists are resolutely building up a political army of anti-imperialist, anti-feudal revolutions.
One of the most important objective factors of the outstanding role played by world communism is that in their struggle for the interests of the working class, of all working people, the Communists give the fullest expression to mankind's loftiest aspirations: peace, freedom and the all-round development of the individual. The Communists fight consistently to avert another world war.
The imperialist bourgeoisie is not oblivious to the growing influence of the communist movement and is subjecting the Communists to severest repressions. In almost 40 countries Communist parties are operating illegally. On several occasions legal proceedings had been instituted 522 against the Communist Party in the USA. In Chile, Spain, Paraguay, Haiti, Guatemala and some other countries the authorities resort to bloody terror to suppress communist activity. But all to no avail. Even in underground conditions the Communist parties continue their energetic activity, rallying together a wide circle of activists and organising the struggle for the rights of the working people, for democratic freedoms and peace.
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, working together with other Marxist-Leninist parties, has set itself the aim of further broadening the influence of the communist movement and consolidating its unity. In its Resolution, the 24th CPSU Congress instructed the Central Committee "to continue steadfastly to work for the cohesion of the communist movement and for enhancing its role in the whole anti-imperialist struggle and to achieve even greater political cohesion of the communist movement and its ideological Marxist-Leninist unity''.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ THE STRUGGLEThe foreign policy of the Soviet state, which is designed to ensure favourable international conditions for building socialism and communism, plays a very important role in the great creative activity which the Soviet people are conducting under the leadership of the Communist Party. 523 Lenin urged the Party to solve international issues "from the point of view of the conditions which best make for the development and consolidation of the socialist revolution'',"^^*^^ and to take into account that the image of the modern world is determined by the "duel between two methods, two political and economic systems---the communist and the capitalist".^^**^^ He summoned the Party consistently to fulfil its internationalist duty.
At the same time Lenin, basing himself on the law of the uneven development of capitalism at its highest, imperialist stage and the possibility of socialism first winning in one or several countries, substantiated the principle of peaceful coexistence of countries with differing social systems.
Soviet foreign policy's revolutionary, transformative nature stems from the very essence of the socialist state, from the historical obligation which the proletariat of Russia assumed when under the guidance of the Leninist Party it overthrew the rule of the bourgeoisie and landowners on one-sixth of the world's surface and opened a new era in the history of mankind---the era of the transition from capitalism to socialism.
The map of the world and the balance of forces in the world arena have changed considerably since the October Socialist Revolution in Russia.
_-_-_^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 445.
^^**^^ Ibid., Vol. 31, p. 456.
524The Soviet people's glorious victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941--1945 against the nazi invaders demonstrated the viability of the Soviet system, and rocked the decaying mainstays of imperialism in many countries and large areas of the world, opening before their peoples the road to genuine freedom and independence and the construction of a new society.
The world socialist system became one of the main factors of social development.
The important changes that took place in the world balance of forces were also due to the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism. Having smashed the chains of colonialism many young sovereign states have chosen the non-capitalist way of development. They have orientated themselves on socialism, thus becoming the allies of the socialist countries in their struggle against imperialism's aggressive policy.
Finally, the continuing aggravation of the general crisis of capitalism is characterised by a steady upsurge of the strike movement of the working class in the capitalist states and the mounting struggle of the working people against monopoly rule. The democratic movement of the world public for peace and against the arms race and imperialism's military intrigues is also gathering momentum.
To a considerable degree the way to all these historic changes in the world and in the class struggle in various sectors of the anti-imperialist front was paved by the Soviet Union's effective support for the cause of peace and progress.
525In their foreign policy activity the CPSU and the Soviet Government take account of the difficulties and contradictions existing in the modern world. These difficulties and contradictions are engendered by imperialism's aggressive policy, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The bourgeoisie is searching for cracks and loopholes in the common anti-imperialist front in order to split it up. These difficulties and contradictions also grow out of a certain heterogeneity of the forces involved in the turbulent development of the world revolutionary and liberation process.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Fundamental Principles ofSince its establishment more than half a century ago, the Soviet state conducts its foreign policy in keeping with Lenin's principles of internationalism and active defence of peace. At various stages this policy was enriched with new experience and methods, but under all conditions the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Government undeviatingly followed Lenin's behests and acted in the creative spirit of Marxism-Leninism.
``As we see it,'' underlined General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev in his report on the 50th anniversary of the USSR, "the purpose of our foreign policy is to strengthen peace, which we need for building communism, which is required by all socialist countries, by the 526 peoples of all lands. This is why we shall continue to counteract the policy of aggression and help to eliminate throughout the world the conditions that breed aggressive wars.
``As we see it, it is the purpose and mission of our foreign policy to facilitate the exercise by all the peoples of their inalienable rights and, first and foremost, their right to independent and sovereign development, so that they may benefit by the fruits of modern civilisation.
``As we see it, it is the purpose and mission of our policy on the international scene to side unfailingly with those who are fighting imperialism and all forms of exploitation and oppression, for freedom and human dignity, for democracy and socialism.''
Class and socialist in content and aims, the Leninist foreign policy of the CPSU and the Soviet state is consistently internationalist, genuinely democratic and profoundly peaceful.
It is internationalist because it is permeated with the spirit of solidarity with the world's revolutionary forces. The interests of the Soviet people coincide objectively with the vital requirements and aspirations of the working people of all countries. By defending the interests of the Soviet state, Soviet foreign policy upholds the interests of the working people of the whole world. By supporting all revolutionary and national liberation forces and curtailing the sphere of imperialist influence, the Soviet state also contributes to the establishment of more propitious conditions for the peaceful creative labour of the Soviet 527 people. Thus, a genuinely socialist foreign policy is an important factor of the development of the class struggle in the world arena.
The Soviet Union proves this by word and deed. Thanks to Soviet foreign policy which unmasked imperialist conspiracies against peace and democracy in the initial post-war years the People's Democracies in Eastern and Central Europe successfully defended their gains against the encroachments of internal and external counterrevolution and launched socialist construction. Soviet assistance to the Arab peoples in October 1956 checked the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression whose purpose was to stamp out national liberation revolutions in the Middle East. In 1958 the Soviet Union upset US plans of intervention in the Lebanon. In 1961 and 1962 revolutionary Cuba managed to safeguard her freedom and independence in the face of unceasing provocations and threats by US imperialism thanks to Soviet support. From the very outset of US aggression in Southeast Asia, the Soviet Union resolutely upheld the just cause of patriots of Vietnam and other countries of Indochina. During the June 1967 Israeli aggression, the Arab peoples once again received the firm support of the USSR.
Soviet foreign policy is democratic because it upholds the equality of all nations, both large and small. It is an honest policy dictated by the interests of the working people and not narrow groups. By its very first foreign political act--- the Decree on Peace---the young Soviet Republic countered the deceitful diplomacy of imperialism 528 with a straightforward policy addressed to all the peoples. In 1917 the revolutionary workers' and peasants' government made public all the secret treaties entered into by tsarism, and proclaimed them null and void.
International relations of the latter half of the 20th century are characterised by an unprecedented scope of the world-wide struggle for peace. Credit for this is in no small measure due to Soviet foreign policy which opened the eyes of the world public to the danger inherent in imperialism's aggressive course and showed that there was another road, one which coincided with the interests of all peoples.
Indicative of the peaceableness of Soviet foreign policy is the fact that in all issues of war and peace the Soviet Union consistently fights for peace, security and friendship of peoples. It is written down in the CPSU Programme that socialism has offered mankind the only reasonable principle of maintaining relations between states at a time when the world is divided into two systems---Lenin's principle of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. This principle implies renunciation of war as a means of settling international disputes, and their solution by negotiation, renunciation of force or the threat of force, non-interference in internal affairs, recognition of the right of every people to solve all the problems of its country by itself, inviolability of state borders, respect for the sovereignty, equality and independence of all countries, promotion of economic, scientific, 529 technical and cultural co-operation on the basis of mutual benefit.
Naturally, the principle of peaceful coexistence does not mean that two opposing ideologies--- bourgeois and socialist---can live in peace. Ideological principles are irreconcilable.
These fundamental features of Soviet foreign policy are embodied in the tireless activity of the Soviet state and the CPSU on the international scene.
In its decisions the 24th CPSU Congress approved the basic, time-tested trends of Soviet foreign policy and mapped out a concrete, effective programme for a consistent struggle for peace and universal security.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Co-operationIn view of its class content and internationalist character, the Soviet foreign policy is formulated and effectuated with the utmost consideration for the interests and aspirations of the working class in all countries, of the broadest masses of working people, of all progressive humanity. The enhanced might and international prestige of the Soviet Union, the all-round consolidation of the fraternal community of socialist states, the powerful upsurge of the working-class movement and the mounting success of the national liberation struggle create objective conditions for paralysing the forces of aggression and imperialism, and __PRINTERS_P_529_COMMENT__ 34---2052 530 guiding international developments in a direction furthering the cause of peace and socialism. The decisive role in attaining this historic aim is played by the world community of socialist states.
The CPSU works unremittingly to promote the cohesion and development of the world socialist system. Since its establishment almost three decades ago, the world socialist system has proved its viability; it has greatly accelerated world progress and is vastly contributing to the achievement of such a vitally important goal for all the peoples as prevention of another world war.
The CPSU and the Soviet state likewise attach undiminishing importance to developing co-- operation with the fraternal socialist states. Of late the Soviet Union has signed new treaties of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance with the GDR, Poland, Mongolia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Rumania. It also strengthened fraternal friendship and co-operation with Cuba and extended its ties with the Korean People's Democratic Republic and Yugoslavia. The Soviet people maintain relations of socialist solidarity and friendship with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
A major success of the concerted policy pursued by the fraternal countries has been the liquidation of the political blockade of the German Democratic Republic. By the beginning of 1975 it had diplomatic relations with 112 countries. Chinks are appearing in the wall of "non-- recognition" which the United States built around the Republic of Cuba 15 years ago, and the 531 international position of the first socialist state in the Western Hemisphere is steadily gaining in strength.
In its Resolution the April 1973 Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee expressed the firm resolve of the CPSU to take all necessary steps to ensure the further cohesion of the socialist states and the consolidation and expansion of all-round, fraternal ties with them.
But there are difficulties and complications even in the socialist world, and first and foremost in Soviet-Chinese relations.
The CPSU resolutely opposes all attempts to distort the Marxist-Leninist teaching and to split the international communist movement and the ranks of the anti-imperialist fighters. The CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet Government are doing their utmost to normalise Soviet-Chinese relations. On the initiative of the Soviet Union a meeting of the heads of government of the two countries took place in September 1969 after which government delegations met in Peking to resolve border issues.
Delivering the CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress Leonid Brezhnev said: "We resolutely reject the slanderous inventions concerning the policy of our Party and our state which are being spread from Peking and instilled into the minds of the Chinese people.... The CPSU will continue tirelessly to work for the cohesion of the socialist countries and the world communist movement on a Marxist-Leninist basis. At the same time, our Party and the Soviet Government are __PRINTERS_P_531_COMMENT__ 34* 532 deeply convinced that an improvement of relations between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China would be in line with the fundamental, long-term interests of both countries, the interests of socialism, the freedom of the peoples, and stronger peace. That is why we are prepared in every way to help not only to normalise relations but also to restore neighbourliness and friendship between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China and express the confidence that this will eventually be achieved.''
The CPSU and the Soviet Government are taking extensive and diverse steps to expand ties with the national liberation movement. The Soviet Union politically and economically supports the just struggle of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America for national independence and social progress, against the encroachments of imperialism. The socialist countries and developing states are more fully and actively co-operating in the field of international diplomacy.
In its Report to the 24th CPSU Congress the Central Committee noted that "in the struggle against imperialism an ever greater role is being played by the revolutionary-democratic parties. ..''. This assessment constitutes a basic feature of the CPSU's attitude to the national liberation movement. The CPSU vigorously promotes ties with these parties, confident that this fully meets the interests of the anti-imperialist movement, strengthens national independence and promotes social progress.
533 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Maintenance and ConsolidationThe CPSU and the Soviet state devote primary attention to the struggle for the elimination of hotbeds of aggression and prevention of another world war, for the triumph of the principles of peaceful coexistence, for lasting peace and international security.
The alloy of internationalism and peaceableness is a basic feature of a genuinely socialist course in international affairs.
``We know,'' Lenin said, "we know only too well, the incredible misfortunes that war brings to the workers and peasants."^^*^^ He pointed out that the purpose of Soviet foreign policy and propaganda was to put an end to war and not to involve the peoples in armed clashes.
This premise found its concentrated expression in the programme of active defence of peace worked out at the 24th CPSU Congress. "The Soviet Union has countered the aggressive policy of imperialism with its policy of active defence of peace and strengthening of international security,'' emphasised Leonid Brezhnev as he delivered the CC Report to the 24th CPSU Congress. "The main lines of this policy are well known. Our Party, our Soviet state, in co-operation with the fraternal socialist countries and other peace-loving states, and with the wholehearted support of many _-_-_
^^*^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 148.
534 millions of people throughout the world, have now for many years been waging a struggle on these lines, taking a stand for the cause of peace and friendship among nations.''The 24th Congress denned the main tasks and directions of this struggle in contemporary conditions.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Measures to Eliminate Hotbeds of WarLasting peace is out of the question so long as there are hotbeds of war in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where the imperialist "policy of strength" has completely exposed its anti-popular aggressive nature.
Intent upon crushing the national liberation movement of the Indochinese peoples, the US imperialists mobilised huge forces and means and unleashed direct aggression against the Vietnamese people. The Soviet Union, following the CPSU's principled and consistent course formulated in the decisions of the 23rd and 24th CPSU Congresses, translated its internationalist solidarity with the people of Vietnam into reality. When the imperialist aggressors subjected the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to devastating air attacks, the USSR promptly delivered modern anti-aircraft missiles, artillery and fighter aircraft to the Vietnamese People's Army. The uninterrupted deliveries of essential military and civilian freight from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries did much to help the DRV organise a rebuff to the aggressors and provide for its population. 535 Using the entire weight of its international prestige the Soviet Union, together with other socialist countries, resolutely supported the political and diplomatic acts and the realistic and constructive proposals of the DRV Government and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. The agreement on the cessation of war and the establishment of peace in Vietnam signed in Paris on January 27, 1973 was a great victory of the heroic Vietnamese people over the forces of imperialist aggression, a victory of the militant solidarity of progressive, peaceloving forces throughout the world.
The Soviet Union's policy in the Middle East is characterised by its consistent solidarity with the just cause of the Arab peoples and its readiness to help bring about a political settlement on the basis of the Security Council's resolutions which take into account the legitimate interests of all the Middle East peoples, including the Palestinian people, and the right to existence for all states in that part of the world.
Dwelling on the Middle East problem in his election speech in Moscow on June 14, 1974, Leonid Brezhnev said: "The policy of the Soviet Union and other socialist states and the changed international climate have been largely instrumental in creating more favourable conditions for the struggle against imperialist aggression and for liquidating the hotbed of war in the Middle East. Agreement was reached on the disengagement of troops in the region of the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. At the same time it should 536 be seen that only the first steps have been taken. The main issues of the settlement are to be discussed at the Geneva Conference. This is an extremely difficult task. It can be solved only by the joint efforts of the states participating in the Conference.''
In order to ensure lasting peace it is necessary promptly to rebuff any act of aggression and international violence. This calls for concerted and effective actions of all peace-loving states. The Soviet Union considers that the UN should make the fullest use of its opportunities. In 1970, at the jubilee 25th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Soviet Union and fraternal socialist countries came forward with an important initiative. On their proposal a Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security was worked out and then approved by an overwhelming majority of UN members.
Of special importance are the points of the Declaration recommending the strengthening of the UN and enhancement of its effectivity as an instrument of peace.
In the opinion of the Soviet Union it is necessary to achieve such a state of affairs when repudiation of the use or the threat of force in relations between states, and the solution of controversial issues by negotiation would be a law of international life. The Soviet Union has proposed that countries sharing this view sign corresponding bilateral or regional treaties. It is such an approach which guides the Soviet Union in the struggle for lasting peace, security and co-operation in 537 Europe, for carrying into life the idea of collective security in Asia.
The Soviet Union follows up its determination to fight tirelessly for peace with concrete acts. In May 1971 it signed a Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation with the Arab Republic of Egypt which proved to be a serious obstacle to aggressive imperialist actions in this part of the world. In August 1971 it signed a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation with India and in April 1972 it signed a Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation with the Republic of Iraq. They icflected a basic line pursued by the USSR in its foreign policy activity, namely, to strengthen goodneighbourliness and promote co-operation with other countries, hold consultations with them in the event of threatening situations, not to enter into military alliances spearheaded against friendly countries, and to settle disputes by negotiation.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Struggle for Stable Security in EuropeNo other continent has been ravaged "by wars as greatly as Europe. The last war alone, which was unleashed by fascism, carried away millions of human lives and wrought incalculable destruction. Twenty million lives, such was the price which the Soviet people paid for victory.
Today, too, Europe is still the most explosive region of the world. It is the scene of operations of NATO, the chief aggressive bloc of imperialist powers, and the reactionary elements in West 538 Germany have not given up their revanchist plans. This means that seats of war danger continue to exist.
What must be done to transform Europe into a region of lasting peace?
``To proceed from the final recognition of the territorial changes that took place in Europe as a result of the Second World War. To bring about a radical turn towards detente and peace on this continent. To ensure the convocation and success of an all-European conference.
``To do everything to ensure collective security in Europe.''
That is how the programme of active defence of peace put forward by the 24th CPSU Congress answers this question. It takes into account all the basic premises jointly formulated by fraternal socialist countries. As far back as July 1966, at a meeting in Bucharest, the Warsaw Treaty countries adopted a Declaration on the Consolidation of Peace and Security in Europe in which they appealed to all European states to work for the establishment of a system of collective security and goodneighbourly relations. Developing this initiative the Warsaw Treaty countries in March 1969 proposed that an all-European conference should be convened to examine questions of security and co-operation. This proposal received extensive support in West European countries.
The 24th CPSU Congress reaffirmed the readiness jointly expressed by the Warsaw Treaty countries to have a simultaneous annulment of this Treaty and of the North Atlantic alliance or, 539 as a first step, disbanding of their military organisations.
In January 1972 the Warsaw Treaty countries approved a Declaration on Peace, Security and Co-operation presenting a concrete programme of action of all peace-loving European forces and governments. It emphasised that the system of European security ought to be based on treaty obligations between the European states and on such key principles as inviolability of borders, rejection of the use of force, peaceful coexistence, goodneighbourly relations, mutually advantageous ties, all-out promotion of disarmament, and support for the United Nations.
In their bilateral relations with a number of West European states, the Soviet Union and other fraternal countries show how principles of peaceful coexistence and mutually advantageous cooperation are implemented. A case in point is the Soviet Union's relations with France and Finland. Soviet co-operation with these countries in foreign policy and the economy rests on a firm foundation and is stipulated in corresponding treaties.
An event of major international importance was Leonid Brezhnev's visit to France in October 1971. The negotiations between the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and French President Georges Pompidou ended in the signing of two documents: Principles of Co-- operation Between the USSR and France, and the Soviet-French Declaration which promoted the further development of friendly relations between 540 the two countries and their joint contribution to the cause of security and co-operation in Europe on the basis of peaceful coexistence.
The visit of Leonid Brezhnev to France in December 1974 was marked by the signing of the Agreement on Economic Co-operation Between the USSR and France for 1975--1979, which provided for mutual credits on most favourable terms.
Leonid Brezhnev and French President VaMry Giscard d'Estaing stated that good preconditions had been established for consummating the European security and co-operation conference and signing its final documents at the summit level.
The Soviet and the French sides supported a speedy resumption of the Middle East Geneva Conference and the convocation of a World Disarmament Conference.
The normalisation of relations between the USSR and the FRG and between the latter and other socialist countries is a matter of paramount importance for the preservation of peace and security in Europe. In 1970, the Soviet Union and Poland signed treaties with the Federal Republic of Germany. The sides pledged to recognise the existing territorial and political situation in Europe and reject the use of force. These treaties turned the relations between the signatories towards broad and long-term co-operation to the great benefit of the present and future generations of these countries and their neighbours, and are making it possible to achieve such a state of affairs that recognition of the inviolability of European 541 borders and non-use of force will become a code of life on the continent.
As a result of the initiative and good will on the part of the Soviet Union, a quadripartite agreement on West Berlin was signed in September 1971 with the view to abolishing the source of friction and tension in the heart of Europe. It stipulates that the sides will respect the allied agreements defining the special status of West Berlin entered into by the USSR, the USA, France and Britain. The quadripartite agreement reaffirms that West Berlin does not belong to the Federal Republic of Germany and is based on respect for the sovereign rights of the German Democratic Republic, the first socialist state on German soil.
Further progress on the way to consolidating peace in Europe was made in 1972. The treaties between the USSR and the FRG and Poland and the FRG were ratified, a complex of agreements on West Berlin came into force, and a Treaty on the Basic Principles of Relations Between the GDR and the FRG was concluded.
In May 1973 General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet Leonid Brezhnev visited the Federal Republic of Germany. This visit, which contributed largely to strengthening peace in Europe, was in furtherance of the line defined by the 1970 Moscow Treaty and the agreement reached between Leonid Brezhnev and Chancellor Willy Brandt in Oreanda in 1971. Soviet-West German negotiations in Bonn resulted in the 542 expansion of economic, scientific and technical and cultural co-operation between the two states. Leonid Brezhnev's visit consolidated the change in the relations between the USSR and a state which had just a short while ago adhered to diametrically opposite positions on all major international issues. This was a shift towards new, normal peacetime relations and mutually advantageous co-operation, towards greater mutual understanding of the need to further detente in Europe.
During the visit to the USSR of FRG Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in October 1974 an agreement was reached on a further expansion of economic co-operation between the two countries. Contracts were signed on the delivery of 60,000 million cubic metres of natural gas from the USSR to the FRG in 1978 through 2000, and on purchases by Soviet organisations of one million tons of large-diameter gas pipes in 1975 and 1976.
The peaceful initiatives of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries have created the necessary conditions and a favourable situation in Europe for practical preparations for and the convocation of an all-European conference on security and co-operation to tackle the basic problems of strengthening European peace.
The first stage of the conference on European security and co-operation was held in 1973 in Finland. The delegates completed a vast amount of important work. They drafted proposals for the ensuing second stage of the conference, which began in Geneva later that year and was 543 completed in July .1975. From July 30 to August 1, 1975 the third stage of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe was held in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Political leaders and heads of state from 33 European countries, the USA and Canada came to a collective agreement, embodied in the Final Act of the Conference, covering a wide range of topical concerns, including peace, security and co-operation in a variety of fields.
Lying at the heart of the concluding document signed at the conference is the Declaration of Principles, by which signatory states will be guided in their external relations. These principles are: sovereign equality and respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty; non-use of force or the threat of force; the inviolability of frontiers; the territorial integrity of states; peaceful resolution of disputes; non-interference in internal affairs; respect for the rights of man and the fundamental freedoms, including freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief; equal rights and the right of peoples to settle their own future; co-operation between states; the conscientious fulfilment of obligations under international law.
The conference also defined the direction and practical forms to be taken by co-operation in the economic and commercial fields, in science and technology, environmental protection, culture, education and in contacts between people, institutions and organisations.
The USSR likewise attaches great importance 544 to the reducing of armed forces and armaments in Central Europe.
The Soviet Union and other socialist countries have broken the cold war front in Europe. In the opinion of the CPSU it is quite possible to create a system of interstate relations in Europe which would become a practical and attractive example of coexistence.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ A Ban on Weapons of Mass DestructionFollowing Lenin's behest the Soviet Government is waging a consistent struggle for disarmament. One of the most important tasks in this direction is to outlaw nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons.
Thanks to the Soviet Union's persistent efforts a number of international agreements restricting the nuclear arms race have been concluded, such as treaties banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water (1963), prohibiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons (1968), banning the emplacement of these weapons in outer space, celestial bodies and also on the sea-bed and the ocean floor and in the subsoil thereof (1967 and 1971). On the initiative of the socialist countries a convention was signed banning the development, production and accumulation of bacteriological (biological) weapons and toxins and providing for their destruction. The USSR is consistently working for a similar radical solution of the question of banning and destroying chemical weapons.
545The programme of active defence of peace formulated by the 24th CPSU Congress sets Soviet foreign policy the following tasks: to work for an end to the testing of nuclear weapons, including underground tests, by everyone everywhere, to promote the establishment of nuclear-free zones in various parts of the world, and to work for a ban on nuclear weapons.
In the autumn of 1972, the Soviet Union tabled a resolution on the non-use of force in international relations and perpetual prohibition of nuclear weapons for discussion by the 27th UN General Assembly Session. The need to solve the question of the non-use of force in general, and that of banning nuclear weapons in particular, is dictated by the task of putting an end to any use of force, leaving no loopholes for potential violators of peace. Once this is done the security of each state, whether nuclear or non-nuclear, large or small, will be equally ensured. At the same time it would not in the least infringe upon the right of any nation to resist aggression or imperialist expansion. The UN General Assembly in its overwhelming majority voted in favour of the Soviet proposal and advised the Security Council to take immediate steps to translate its decision into life.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Struggle to Halt the Arms RaceThe Soviet Union has repeatedly come forward with the proposal to put an end to race in all types of weapons, right up to general and __PRINTERS_P_545_COMMENT__ 35---2052 546 complete disarmament. At the same time imperialism is feverishly conducting military preparations, a source of enormous profits for the monopolists, in an effort to extricate itself from its ever-- deepening general crisis. Mankind is paying a huge price for the arms race imposed by the imperialists. Each year the world spends more than $200,000 million on the maintenance of armies and production of armaments. Over a half of this sum is expended by NATO states.
Militarism has a world-wide network of military bases, nuclear warhead dumps and the routes of air and naval patrols armed with nuclear weapons. For the purpose of ``surrounding'' the socialist countries the US set up 429 large and 3,400 small military bases in 30 countries.
For more than a quarter of a century US naval vessels are stationed in waters far away from their country's shores. The 6th Fleet patrolling the Mediterranean bulwarks the aggressive plans of the Israeli military circles against the Arab countries. For many years the US 7th Fleet was the striking force in the aggressive war against the peoples of Indochina.
The consistent efforts of the CPSU and the Soviet Government to halt the arms race are aimed at ridding the peoples both of the threat of war and the heavy burden of military expenditures.
The Soviet Union made concrete proposals concerning both a partial cutback in arms and laying the groundwork for general and complete disarmament. It calls for the dismantling of foreign military bases and the introduction of measures 547 reducing the possibility of accidental outbreak of war or deliberate fabrication of armed incidents and their development into war.
In its Peace Programme the Soviet Union calls for the convocation of a World Disarmament Conference. Putting forward this proposal it proceeded from the need to ensure conditions under which all countries, irrespective of the size of their territories and populations and military and economic potentials, will take part in discussing ways and means of restricting and halting the arms race, and then destroying the weapons. The Soviet initiative received world-wide approval; the 27th UN General Assembly voted in favour of holding a World Disarmament Conference and outlined ways how it should be prepared.
The Soviet Union has entered into negotiations with the United States on the limitation of strategic arms. It is working towards halting the competition between offensive and defensive weapons, which poses a threat to peace and swallows vast sums that could be used for peaceful purposes. The agreement between the USSR and the USA on the prevention of nuclear war is intended to save the world from its devastating consequences for mankind.
In the struggle for the disarmament the USSR proceeds from the premise that the solution of all questions in the course of bilateral and multilateral negotiations should be based on the principle of equal security.
__PRINTERS_P_547_COMMENT__ 35* 548 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Development of International Co-operationThe Soviet Union's foreign policy combines a firm rebuff to imperialism's aggressive plans with a constructive approach to urgent international problems, an uncompromising ideological struggle with readiness to develop mutually advantageous relations with non-socialist states. The sixth point of the Peace Programme adopted by the 24th CPSU Congress envisages the expansion of co-operation in the most diverse spheres with all states and peoples.
The consistent realisation of the Peace Programme has led to important changes in the relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. The top-level Soviet-American negotiations in May 1972 in Moscow marked the beginning of a switch from mistrust to detente, to a normalisation of relations and mutual co-- operation between the two countries. The Basic Principles of Mutual Relations Between the USSR and the USA signed at the Moscow meeting proclaimed that the sides "will proceed from the common determination that in the nuclear age there is no alternative to conducting their mutual relations on the basis of peaceful coexistence''. This document contained other important provisions, including recognition of the principle of equality and equal security of the sides, rejection of the threat or use of force, commitment to do everything possible to avoid military confrontations and prevent nuclear war.
These principles have been embodied in a 549 number of bilateral agreements signed in Moscow: on limitation of strategic arms, on co-operation in environmental protection, public health, exploration of outer space, and in diverse fields of science and technology, all of which are of great importance not only for the peoples of the USSR and the USA, but also for all mankind.
The time that has passed since the Moscow meeting has shown beyond all doubt that the measures which were taken at the meeting with the view to improving Soviet-American relations were both correct and timely. In the course of the following months the Soviet Union and the United States signed several agreements promoting mutual trade, regulating ocean navigation, etc. The volume of trade "between the two countries increased 200 per cent in 1972 alone.
Fresh proof of the effectiveness of the Soviet Programme of Peace was the visit to the United States in June 1973 by General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev. The top-level Soviet-American negotiations which were held during the visit strengthened and expanded the foundations for improving the relations between the two countries which were laid in May 1972 in Moscow.
The most important result of these negotiations was the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War which was signed in Washington. Aimed at preventing a nuclear clash between the USSR and the USA it also obligates them to do everything in their power to prevent a nuclear war. This Agreement is of historic importance 550 because it signifies a shift from nuclear confrontation between the USA and the USSR to a policy of preventing nuclear war and solving controversial issues by negotiations, and leads to the creation of an effective system guaranteeing international security. The readiness of other states to adhere to the principles of refraining from the threat or use of force and take resolute measures to avert nuclear war will prove to be of exceptional importance for the achievement of universal security and lasting world peace.
Soviet and US leaders took a fresh step towards attaining fuller agreement on the limitation of the most sophisticated and destructive types of weapons. They worked out the basic principles of further negotiations on a broader agreement on the limitation of strategic arms of much longer duration.
During Leonid Brezhnev's visit to the United States the two sides also signed agreements on cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy, agriculture, world ocean studies, transportation, and so forth. They noted with satisfaction that preceding agreements on co-operation in other fields were being carried out in practice, and that there were broad prospects for developing mutually advantageous economic relations which would enable both countries to aim at a total of $2,000 million to $3,000 million of trade over the next three years.
The Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and the USSR Council of Ministers wholly 551 and fully approved the political and practical results of Soviet-US negotiations. They highly assessed Leonid Brezhnev's personal contribution to their achievement, and stated: ''. . .the Soviet Union will continue consistently to follow the path indicated by the 24th CPSU Congress. We shall continue to strengthen relations with our friends and allies, with the countries of the socialist community. We shall promote ties and contacts with countries that have freed themselves from colonial oppression, help all peoples fighting for peace, national liberation, democracy and socialism. As in the past the Soviet Union will render a resolute rebuff to any intrigues of the aggressive imperialist forces, to all those who oppose detente, who advocate a return to the cold war and the arms race, to all those who sow seeds of enmity and mistrust among nations.''
In the course of the third Soviet-American summit meeting which took place from June 27 to July 3, 1974, the two sides agreed on the need firmly to adhere to and implement the main line charted in the documents signed in 1972 and 1973.
Paramount attention was given to further reducing the war danger and limiting strategic weapons. Continuing the trend of the Soviet-- American basic documents signed in the course of the preceding meetings the two sides reached agreement on limiting their anti-missile defences, underground nuclear weapons tests and on further efforts to limit strategic offensive arms and to ban chemical weapons. All this is an important step on 552 the road to stronger peace and mutual trust, bulwarking and deepening international detente.
The two sides signed documents confirming their determination to work together to avert the war danger and especially war entailing the use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, limit and finally cease the arms race, particularly the production of strategic weapons, strengthen detente and make it world wide.
During the third meeting the two sides signed agreements on co-operation in the fields of public health, power industry, in housing and other construction, and a long-term agreement on promoting co-operation in the economic, industrial and technological fields. These agreements contribute largely to the further expansion of bilateral co-operation. The development of relations between the USSR and the USA on the basis of full equality and mutual advantage, their commitment to respect the rights and interests of all states are an important factor of the continuing improvement of the international situation and expansion of international co-operation.
The two sides noted that a successful outcome of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe would go a long way towards ensuring lasting peace on the continent. A factor of great importance is confirmation by the USSR and the USA of their stand that the Middle East settlement should be based on the resolutions already adopted by the Security Council and should take into account the legitimate interests of all the Middle East peoples, including the Palestinian 553 people, and the right to existence of all the states in that part of the world.
In November 1974 near the city of Vladivostok (the USSR) a working meeting between Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the CC CPSU, and US President Gerald R. Ford took place. As a result of the exchange of opinions an agreement was reached that further Soviet-American negotiations on the limitation of strategic offensive weapons will be based on the following provisions:~
1. The new agreement will incorporate the relevant provisions of the Interim Agreement of May 26, 1972, which will remain in force until October 1977.
2. The new agreement will cover the period from October 1977 through December 31, 1985.
3. Based on the principle of equality and equal security, the new agreement will include the following limitations:
a) both sides will be entitled to have a certain agreed aggregate number of strategic delivery vehicles;
b) both sides will be entitled to have a certain agreed aggregate number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles equipped with multiple independently targetable warheads.
4. The new agreement will include a provision for further negotiations beginning not later than 1980--1981 on the question of further limitations and possible reductions of strategic arms in the period after 1985.
554The improvement of Soviet-American relations once again demonstrated that in present-day conditions controversial international issues cannot be solved by means of cold war methods. They can and ought to be solved by negotiation on the basis of equality and equal security of sides, mutual respect of interests, and the assertion in international relations of the principle of peaceful coexistence of states with differing social systems and regardless of their size.
In February 1975 British Prime Minister Harold Wilson made an official visit to the Soviet Union. At the summit talks which took place in Moscow the Soviet and British sides discussed a wide range of questions and signed the following important documents: Joint Soviet-British Statement; Soviet-British Protocol on Consultations; Soviet-British Declaration on the Non-- proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; Long-Term Programme for the Development of Economic and Industrial Co-operation Between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Programme for Scientific and Technological Co-operation Between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for a Ten-Year Period; and Agreement Between the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Co-operation in the Field of Medicine and Public Health.
The Soviet-British summit meeting will play an 555 important part in promoting stable relations between the two countries on the basis of peaceful coexistence, and in stimulating their fruitful and mutually advantageous co-operation. At the same time its results will further strengthen international peace and security, particularly in Europe.
Given good will and mutual understanding, cooperation between states with different social systems has inexhaustible prospects for development and can be placed on a long-term basis. SovietFrench and Soviet-Finnish relations are a case in point. The Soviet Union and France have signed a number of agreements on co-operation in the economic, scientific and technical fields which have occasioned a considerable expansion of trade and also promoted joint research, construction of industrial projects by one country on the territory of the other, and so forth. The Soviet-Finnish treaty on the promotion of economic, technical and industrial co-operation envisages a twentyyear programme of joint industrial construction, exchange of scientific and technical experience and also a steady expansion of trade. The conclusion of an agreement on the delivery of Soviet natural gas to Italy, and the construction in the USSR of an automobile factory with the participation of Italian specialists evidence the development of mutually advantageous economic links between the two countries.
The Soviet Peace Programme proposes that European countries pool their efforts to organise trans-continental transportation, build high-- 556 voltage grids and establish a Single European Power System on this basis.
Furthermore the Soviet Union attaches great importance to the unification of the efforts of all countries in such fields as the conservation of the environment, prevention and eradication of the most dangerous diseases and the exploration and development of outer space.
__b_b_b__The programme of active defence of peace advanced by the 24th CPSU Congress has evoked great interest in foreign countries and won vigorous approval of the world public, for its main points reflect the aspirations of all peace-loving forces. It further enhanced the attractive force of Soviet foreign policy which harmoniously combines socialist internationalism and consistent defence of peace.
On the basis of this Programme the Soviet Union came forward with many important initiatives in its diplomatic activity. The period since the 24th CPSU Congress has been characterised by exceptionally intensive activity in the sphere of international relations.
The CPSU, its Leninist Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee are holding foreign policy issues in the focus of attention. By their practical activity on the international scene they are vigorously carrying through the Programme of Peace. An important role in promoting Soviet initiatives in the field of foreign policy following the 24th CPSU 557 Congress was played by Leonid Brezhnev's visits to France, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria, the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the FRG and the USA, and his meeting with FRG Chancellor Willy Brandt in the Crimea; Nikolai Podgorny's visits to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, Finland and Turkey; Alexei Kosygin's visits to Algeria, Canada, the Republic of Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria; and by visits, meetings and other forms of contacts, entered into by Members and Candidate Members of the Political Bureau, Central Committee Secretaries and delegations of the Supreme Soviet and the Government of the USSR, with statesmen and MP's, leaders of parties and public organisations of foreign countries.
The Soviet Peace Programme has had serious influence on many trends in world politics. The most important steps undertaken by the Soviet Union since the 24th CPSU Congress have confirmed the effectivity of Soviet foreign policy, its all-embracing, comprehensive and long-term character.
For his tireless efforts in implementing the Leninist foreign policy Leonid Brezhnev has been awarded the International Lenin Prize "For the Promotion of Peace Among Nations''.
The April 1973 Plenary Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee discussed the international activity of the CC CPSU in implementing the decisions of the 24th Party Congress and unanimously adopted a resolution fully endorsing the work 558 carried out by the Political Bureau in ensuring lasting world peace and providing reliable security for the Soviet people who are engaged in communist construction. It mentioned Leonid Brezhnev's great personal contribution to the fulfilment of these tasks.
The Plenary Meeting expressed satisfaction at the solidarity of Marxist-Leninist parties and mass movements with the activity of the CPSU and the Soviet Government in carrying through the Peace Programme. "As it has done in the past,'' notes the Resolution, "the CPSU, in its struggle against imperialism, in its entire foreign policy, will steadfastly carry through the socialist, Leninist line and support the peoples who are fighting for their right to independence and social progress.''
The CC Plenary Meeting approved the efforts of the CPSU and the Soviet state to promote the relations between the USSR and non-socialist countries on the basis of peaceful coexistence. It qualified them as an important factor of the expansion and consolidation of positive trends in international politics.
At the same time it once again emphasised the need for unceasing vigilance and preparedness to rebuff any intrigues on the part of imperialism's aggressive, reactionary circles.
The April Plenary Meeting authorised the Political Bureau steadfastly to continue the foreign policy line laid down by the 24th CPSU Congress, work for the full implementation of the Peace Programme and make irreversible the favourable 559 changes achieved in the international situation.
The strength, the prestige of the Leninist foreign policy of the CPSU and the Soviet state springs from the might of the socialist system, the dedicated labour of the Soviet people and their successes in communist construction which ensure the steady growth of the Soviet Union's economic, political and military potential. This policy rests on the prestige and might of the entire community of fraternal socialist countries, on the alliance of the great revolutionary forces, on the support of all peace-loving forces.
``On the basis of the Peace Programme adopted by the 24th CPSU Congress,'' states the appeal "To the Peoples of the World" adopted at a joint meeting of the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Supreme Soviet and the RSFSR Supreme Soviet in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, "we shall tirelessly work for the consolidation of the socialist community; for a further relaxation of international tension and promotion of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems; for the national independence of peoples and mutual respect and friendship between them; for a better life of all working people and social progress of the whole of humanity.''
__ALPHA_LVL0__ The End. [END] [560]REQUEST TO READERS ~
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