p The newly liberated peoples know what capitalism stands for. The charms of colonialism are stm fresh in their minds and their freedom. The history of capitalism and imperialism is one of devastating wars, colonial plunder, exploitation, unemployment, starvation and privation. Capitalism is the enemy of democracy and progress, and peoples are therefore emphatically rejecting capitalism no matter how attractively it is attired by its ideologists and no matter how aluringly it is described (“people’s capitalism”, “welfare state”, and so on) . Capitalism is so unpopular that this is admitted even by official imperialist sources. A survey compiled by a U.S. news agency and carried by The New York Times notes with regret that the more the merits of capitalism are advertised and the more socialism is attacked by it, the less is it liked by the world. Analysing the comments of the agency’s correspondents, who conducted opinion polls in both Hemispheres, the survey states that “capitalism is evil. The United States is the leading capitalist country. Therefore the United States is evil. Capitalism is a dirty word to millions of non-Marxists. ... To them it means little concern for the poor, unfair distribution of wealth and undue influence of the rich".

p An indication of the unacceptability of capitalist development to the peoples is the grave crisis in a number of the newly liberated countries, which have chosen the capitalist road, the road that accords with the interests of the imperialists and their supporters and brings the people nothing but poverty and exploitation.

p Take Morocco. The government’s capitalist policy led to a severe crisis in the country’s economic, financial and socio-political life, with the result that the position of the working masses sharply deteriorated. The cost of living rose 40 per cent in the period 1958-63 and wages remained virtually frozen. Unemployment grew catastrophically. Every 129 fifth man and every second woman in a country with a population of 13,000,000 lost their jobs. The situation is no better in some of the other countries that have chosen the capitalist road.

The people, naturally, are opposed to capitalism, to capitalist development. But there is another, non-capitalist, road of development.