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p Dear Comrades,

p I should like first of all to convey to you warm greetings from the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, from all Bulgarian Communists, from all our people building a socialist society. Through you we greet the world communist movement, our brothers in class, aims and struggle.

p Allow me, too, from the bottom of my heart to thank the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, its Central Committee for their great contribution to the preparation of our International Meeting, for the conditions they have created for fruitful work, and for the comradely attention with which we are all surrounded in hospitable Moscow.

p I also take the occasion to express our thanks to the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party, which over a considerable period of time was a hospitable host to the Meeting’s preparatory bodies and ensured good conditions for successful work in Budapest.

p The fact that such a representative forum of the most powerful revolutionary movement of our epoch is now in session in Moscow is in itself of historic significance. This is confirmation of the community of our interests, objectives and struggle. It is an expression of the growing urge to strengthen our unity and cohesion, and an eloquent proof that Communist and Workers’ Parties are loyal to the immortal principles of proletarian internationalism.

p Sitting in this hall and listening to the speeches of delegates, one cannot help having a feeling of elan and pride at the sense of belonging to the great communist family; one cannot help feeling glad at the failure of those who tried to sow doubt and bring us to a split, one cannot help feeling determination to work and fight for the cohesion and unity of action of our movement, for the triumph of our cause!

p The Meeting will undoubtedly generate the same thoughts and emotions in all Communists in the world, and will give another mighty impetus to the struggle for unity—not only in the ranks of the Communist Parties here represented, but also in the ranks of the Communist and Workers’ Parties whose representatives are for various reasons absent from this historic Meeting.

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p The Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, which back at its 9th Congress in 1966 came out for preparing and holding this Meeting, met for a special plenary meeting at which it examined and approved the draft Main Document. We believe that this Document gives a true assessment of the modern epoch and correctly formulates the tasks in the struggle against imperialism and for unity of action by the Communist and Workers’ Parties. Our delegation supports the draft Main Document, and also the other documents submitted to the Meeting.

p Comrades, we heard with deep satisfaction speeches by a number of fraternal Party delegates containing valuable considerations on the most pressing problems of our day, interesting experience drawn from life and the activity of various Parties, and important proposals for intensifying the struggle against world imperialism.

p I should also like to share our great sense of satisfaction evoked by the speech of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, which is of exceptional importance for our common work, strategy and tactics at the present stage. We fully share its Marxist-Leninist analysis of the present international situation, and the assessment, conclusions and corresponding tasks for the communist movement in strengthening its cohesion and unity of action in the struggle against imperialism.

p Comrades, the development of the world revolutionary process over the last decade has forced imperialism to reappraise its strategy and tactics in every sphere of struggle—political, economic, military and ideological. Imperialism is straining hard to unite the capitalist states and the reactionary forces all over the world into a common front against the socialist world system, against the international communist and workers’ movement, against the national liberation movement and against all the forces of democracy, peace and progress.

p Today, life ever more imperatively demands that we Communists confront the alliance of imperialists with a united front of the working class and all antiimperialist forces.

p In defining its strategy and tactics, the international communist movement must take account of both the growing aggressiveness of imperialism and the greater possibilities open to the anti-imperialist forces. Have we any right to underestimate the danger which springs from the increasingly aggressive policy of imperialism? No, we have no such right. Although modern imperialism no longer plays the part of chief and decisive factor in mankind’s development, it remains a formidable and dangerous adversary, the main obstacle to the victory of socialism. Imperialism is not the social system of the future,, but it is yet to be removed entirely from history’s path.

p In modern bourgeois society there are phenomena testifying to some adaptation by the financial oligarchy and the capitalist economy to the new conditions of struggle between the two systems. As a result above all of the growth of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism and the advance of the scientific and technical revolution, the economic and military potential of the leading imperialist states, notably the USA, has increased. A general tendency 287 to integration embracing the economic, political, ideological and military spheres is increasing in the capitalist world. The coalescence of the bourgeois state with the big monopolies, the vast concentration and centralisation in the economy, and the formation of giant military-industrial complexes have provided the imperialist bourgeoisie with some new possibilities for manoeuvring in the sphere of social relations and political affairs, and for combining brute violence and repression with demagogic social policy.

p But that does not at all mean that imperialism has been cured of the deepgoing insurmountable contradictions and sores which are intrinsic to its social nature, or that the world balance of forces has changed in its favour. What is more, the increasing aggressiveness of imperialism springs precisely from the deepening of its general crisis, from the inevitability of its demise. The dangerous provocations and military operations in various parts of the world are an expression not of strength but of desperate efforts to regain its long-lost historical initiative, and to affirm its domination.

p It is obvious that modern imperialism is a source of constant danger to and attack on the rights and freedoms of the working people and whole nations, that it is a world gendarme and a brake on social progress. On the other hand, it is equally obvious that modern imperialism has not the strength to stop the world revolutionary process. This is most convincingly shown by the moral, political and military defeat of the US aggressors in Vietnam, the failure of imperialism’s attempts to gain its strategic objectives in the Middle East, and its futile efforts to strangle revolutionary Cuba, and to restore the positions it lost in Europe and the rest of the world as a result of the Second World War.

p World development is now no longer determined by imperialism but by the existence and joint struggle of three main revolutionary forces:

p   the world socialist system;

p   the communist and working-class movement in the capitalist countries;

p   the national liberation movement.

p The fact that the draft Document stresses the role of these main three streams in the modern revolutionary tide and the need for their unity is of fundamental theoretical and practical importance. Even greater importance attaches to this proposition in view of the recently intensified attempts to disunite these forces and even to range them against each other, something that can have grave consequences for each of them and for the whole revolutionary movement.

p Important principled conclusions and practical tasks also flow from the proposition on establishing and consolidating the alliance of the working class with the peasantry, with the middle urban strata, the intelligentsia and other sections of the population in the fight against imperialism, for peace, democracy and social progress.

p A fitting assessment should also be made of the new phenomenon of the mass-scale revolutionising of youth and students in the capitalist countries * The class composition of this movement is rather heterogeneous. But its dissatisfaction v:ith the capitalist system, its rejection of capitalist social relations and order, and its anti-war and anti-imperialist character are quite obvious. The youth movement is essentially a reflection of the growing crisis of the 288 bourgeois system, of an intensification of the working-class struggle against the bourgeoisie.

p However, this does not result in an automatic integration of the youth and student struggle into the struggle of the working class and the Communist and Workers’ Parties. The experience of the last few years shows that the Communist Parties should work hard to direct the revolutionary youth movement along the necessary path and give it a lead. Otherwise, the young generation’s protest and actions take the form of futile spontaneous rebellion, swiftly fall off and may produce either petty-bourgeois frustration and resignation, or adventurism, which is the mark of petty-bourgeois revolutionism.

p The most dangerous consequence of the detachment of the Communist Parties from the revolutionary youth and student movement is that the latter is headed by “Left” opportunists of every stripe, Maoists and Trotskyites. “Ultra-Leftists” usually catch in their web and divert from the communist movement that section of young people which constitutes a natural reserve of the revolutionary movement and a source of growth for the Communist Parties’ ranks.

p Only a connection between the youth struggle and the proletariat’s struggle, and leadership of the revolutionary youth movement by the Communist Parties create the necessary conditions for involving the broadest masses of youth and students in the revolutionary struggle.

p Concern for the education and tempering of youth in the class and Party spirit, and for their theoretical, Marxist-Leninist advancement is our common primary duty to the revolutionary young people and the future of the communist movement.

p Today, the forces of socialism, the forces of progress, the anti-imperialist front are in a process of ceaseless development. It is we who are on the offensive, not the imperialists. The struggle has, of course, its usual ebb and flow. It is a class struggle. But viewed historically it is a forward movement. It will not be easy to win, but victory will be ours and not the imperialists’! In this context, the assessments and conclusions collectively worked out by our Parties in 1957 and 1960 have been confirmed.

p Comrades, it is quite obvious that it is hard to speak about unity of action in a front which is rather diverse in terms of class, ideology and political attitudes, like the anti-imperialist front, if its main organising and homogeneous force—the communist movement—is not acting together and purposefully. In view of this the cardinal question which is uppermost not only in the minds of us delegates at this meeting, not only in the minds of all Communists of the world but also of all the participants in the anti -imperialist struggle is unity of the world communist movement.

p Without dwelling on this problem in detail, I should merely like to draw your attention to some of its essential aspects.

p Since its very inception our movement has had a clearly expressed international character. It has scored its historical victories under the banner of proletarian internationalism. In its unity and cohesion lies its future, the future of socialism and—we can well say now—the future of mankind. That is why, to use one of Engels’s similes, we must Continue to close air our forces for the 289 struggle into one fist and to concentrate them at the central point of attack (Marx, Engels, Works, 2nd Ed., Vol. 33, p. 317). ’

p It is not some desire to engage in ideological disputes but the basic interests of our common struggle that demand that we should censure unequivocally attempts to range some national contingent of the working class against the world revolutionary movement; the national features of a given working-class movement to the common strategy of the Communists of the world, to the general regularities of the proletarian revolution and the construction of a classless society.

p We stand for the equality of individual Parties, for the Parties’ independence in determining their policy. But independence and equality of Parties and their internationalist duty are not mutually exclusive concepts; they are organically interconnected. That is why our delegation fully supports the proposition written into the draft Main Document saying that each Communist Party is responsible for its activity both to its working class and people, and to the international proletariat, to the international communist movement.

p In our opinion, the main thing we all have to do for tiiir movement at the present stage is to apply the principles of proletarian internationalism consistently and steadfastly in practice, in deed. The great Leriin taught us: "The¹ thing is not to ‘proclaim’ internationalism, but to be able to be an internationalist in deed, even when times are most trying" (Collected Works, Vol. 24, p. 82).

p There can obviously be no question of proletarian internationalist or a • further consolidation of the revolutionary, anti-imperialist forces without an active fight against Right and “Left” opportunism. This problem is of exceptional¹ importance for our movement, because it directly concerns the very nature of the Communist PartieSj the existence and future of socialism. We share the^; stand of the majority of the Parties that we must follow a line of active struggle against departures from Marxism-Leninism, against manifestations’ of national narrow-mindedness in relations between Parties, and also between socialist countries.

p Nationalism is one of the main sources of opportunism—both Right and “Left”. We all know very well what social-chauvinism on the eve of the First World War did to the parties of the Second International. Even after the Second World War, with the colonial system falling apart, Right-wing Social- Democratic leaders took part in the governments of some bourgeois countries which, under the pretext of safeguarding "national interests", waged bloody wars against the national liberation movement.

p Today we cannot, we have no right to, close our eyes to the danger of nationalism. Unfortunately, nationalist tendencies have also appeared in the communist movement, which has always taken a legitimate pride in its internationalism. Nationalism has become an especial danger to some Parties which are in power in their countries. It has turned out to be a fertile soil for the flowering of Right and “Left” deviations and ultimately for the counterposing of some Parties and countries to the other Communist Parties and socialist countries, for the flowering of the ideology of anti-Sovietism, which is alien and hostile to communism.

p Our delegation cannot but voice its alarm over the course of events in China and the Chinese leadership’s present policy and actions.

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p At the start of this decade, the Mao group’s erroneous concepts could still be regarded as a deviation from Marxism-Leninism, but what the Chinese leadership is preaching and doing today is in fact a distortion and complete abandonment of our theory and practice, and a betrayal of the revolutionary struggle of the Communists and all oppressed peoples.

p The 9th Congress of the Communist Party of China essentially set itself the task of legitimising the destructive undertaking of the so-called cultural revolution. The new Rules adopted by it are a complete revision of the MarxistLeninist principles of Party building and activity and officially lay down Mao Tse-tung’s thought as the theoretical basis of the Communist Party of China. Under the new Rules, the CPC is virtually eliminated as a class organisation and is transformed into a "party of the leader" and his successor, Lin Piao.

p Ideologically the Party of China is now being built as Maoist-Trotskyite, anti-Leninist; organisationally, centralisation has been carried to a point of absurdity. In methods of leadership it is a para-military organisation; in composition it is petty-bourgeois: in aims and tasks it is nationalistic and chauvinistic, and in foreign policy actions it is adventurist and anti-Soviet.

p Having legalised the revision of the Party’s programme and practice, the 9th Congress of the CPC has clearly created a new situation both in China and in the international arena.

p The present Chinese leaders seek to turn China into a force openly hostile to the socialist community and to the security of nations. The efforts of the present Chinese leadership, who pursue an anti-Soviet policy and, by their actions, inject demoralisation into the international communist movement, objectively blend with the efforts of imperialism in its struggle against socialist countries, against the liberation cause of the peoples.

p The perfidious attacks of the Chinese on the Soviet-Chinese frontier are the most flagrant manifestations of this policy. These acts of aggression by the Chinese leadership objectively give imperialism a free hand. In effect, the main thing that determines the activity of the present Chinese leaders is the urge=to create every possible difficulty for the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and support all and every kind of anti-Soviet forces and all and every kind of demoralising tendencies in the socialist community and in the international working-class and national liberation movements. To these ends they do not scruple to use any means, methods and forms. In the long run their actions negatively affect the balance of power between imperialism and socialism, the defence capability of the socialist camp and the course of the world revolutionary process.

p All this deeply affects us Communists of the whole world. We cannot remain indifferent to these facts. That, and not because we want to interfere in the internal affairs of another Party or condemn another Party, is why we are compelled to analyse and weigh the new factors emerging after the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of China. Whether we like it or not, we cannot help but draw the corresponding conclusions because these are exceptionally important questions.

p Some leaders of fraternal Parties assert that here is a case of misunderstandings 291 and divergences just between two Parties—the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China—between two states, the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. Had that been the case the question would have been simpler and the work would have been easier. But since such an opinion is current in some Communist circles, we feel it is our duty to stress that these are problems of principle linked up with our theory and practice and that they concern the destiny of our whole revolutionary movement and struggle.

p I feel I must state our attitude also to the question of so-called "mutual recriminations". In the past there have been calls, and at our Meeting, too, voices have been raised against "mutual attacks" between Parties. In our view this question has been formulated inexactly. Essentially speaking, there are no "mutual attacks". In the given case—such are the real facts—it is a question of attacks and slander which the leadership of one Party, the Communist Party of China, has been systematically levelling in the course of several years at the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and other fraternal Parties, at the international communist movement. In the given case it is a question of antiSoviet and schismatic policy and activities in the international communist movement raised to the level of official Party and state policy.

p We all know what great efforts have been made by the international communist movement, by all of us and, particularly, by the Soviet comrades, to surmount the differences between" the Communist Party of China and the vast majority of fraternal Parties. These efforts have yielded no result because of the conduct of the Chinese leaders.

p Comrades, we cannot understand how after the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of China it can be recommended that the Soviet comrades should pass over in silence the situation in the Communist Party of China and keep the 14 million Communists, the 240 million citizens of the Soviet Union in ignorance of the anti-Soviet campaign being conducted by the Chinese leadership; to maintain a silence over the armed Chinese provocations, the attacks, and the blood of Soviet soldiers that has been shedj to say nothing of the calls to the Chinese people to be prepared for a nuclear war against the Soviet Union. Isn’t that really too much to demand of the CPSU and the Soviet Union ?

p Recommendations of this kind are now being made to our entire world communist forum as well. We are being advised to avoid touching on this question in any way or form. This would be tantamount to concealing from the international communist movement the disruptive activities of the Chinese leadership. And all this is suggested to us in the name of "strengthening unity”!

p We would have heeded this advice and followed it if the Chinese leadership had not so rudely rejected the invitation to participate in the Meeting, if it had sent its representatives here to talk as equals with equals about our diiferences, our unity and the struggle against imperialism, for the triumph of our cause. But the Chinese leadership refused to take part in the Meeting and intensified its attacks on the international communist movement.

p We therefore subscribe to what the comrades have said here about the need to expose the splitting policies and substance of the political, ideological and organisational theses and propositions of the present Chinese leaders as endorsed 292 by the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of China, and point out the great harm which they are inflicting on the cause of revolution.

p I should like to emphasise that the Bulgarian Communist Party has always advocated a strengthening of friendship between the Bulgarian and Chinese peoples, between the socialist countries and People’s China, a strengthening of our militant unity, of unity of action with Chinese Communists. We have deep faith in the sound, Marxist-Leninist forces in China, who despite the heavy blows inflicted on them and despite the present difficult situation will be able to uphold Marxism-Leninism and preserve the Communist Party of China to help it occupy a worthy place in our Communist family. Naturally, we are perfectly well aware that this will be a difficult and protracted process,

p “Left" revisionism has not remained behind the Chinese Wall. It has appeared and gained ground in some other Communist circles as well. In pursuing its policy of splitting the Communist Parties and the international communist movement, the Chinese leadership doggedly seeks to organise these forces, split existing Communist Parties and, in opposition to them, set up “Left” parties which would impose “Maoism” on the whole world. These “Left” groups and pigmy parties are becoming centres attracting all sorts of apostates from the communist movement, Trotskyites, renegades and adventurists, and seats of anti-Sovietism and anti-communism.

p When we analyse the reasons for the growth of “Left” opportunism we cannot help noting the role of Right-wing revisionism as a stimulant of the Leftist deviation. Apart from the harm it is doing the communist movement, revisionism precipitates the appearance of “Left” opportunism and promotes its growth in the shape of a false antithesis to the Right deviation. Revisionism is what turns many honest but ideologically immature people away from the Parties and pushes them into the embrace of out-and-out splitters.

p The international communist movement cannot remain indifferent to this. It is an old truth that no matter how much they war among themselves in the realm of theory those who depart to the “Left” of Marxism-Leninism and those who depart to the Right, in effect help each other and ultimately come together under one and the same banner, the banner of anti-communism.

p For that reason, while combating “Left” opportunism we must under no circumstances underrate the other danger, that of Right opportunism, especially when it gets the possibility of gaining the upper hand in some leadership, becoming official Party ideology and—where the Party is in power—becoming state policy.

p Along with the “classical” roots of Right opportunism, a serious source of this deviation in the capitalist countries is the possibility now arising of a peaceful transition to socialism.

p Instead of a policy mobilising all the class forces for the realisation of this possibility, instead of perseveringly drawing the middle classes into the struggle of the working class, there are in some Communist Parties tendencies towards a departure from class positions and adaptation to the aspirations of the pettybourgeois elector. The possibility of accomplishing the socialist revolution peacefully is now beginning to be reduced solely to the possibility of victory 293 at elections. The parliamentary struggle is being regarded as the main and even the only road to socialism. The fact that the working class and its allies have a whole arsenal of peaceful and legal means of struggle is being buried in oblivion. Also being buried in oblivion is the extremely essential circumstance that peaceful transition depends not only on the desire of the Party and the working people but also on the behaviour -of the national and world bourgeoisie and that it, consequently, by no means rules out an armed class struggle. To ignore and forget all this means not only to disarm. the Party but also to replace the revolutionary education of the people by social-democratic illusions.

p Rejecting the basic theses of Marxism-Leninism and emasculating its revolutionary essence, Right opportunism unavoidably slides into reformism, and Social Democracy, becoming a source of disunity for the working class.

p The major success scored by the Communist Party of France in the first round of the presidential elections convincingly showed that the foundations, oft which broad sections of the working people can unite are not unprincipled, combinations but clear Communist positions. We note this with.satisfaction and congratulate our French comrades. These results are a good and very timely lesson for the Communist Parties and all truly Left forces, including SocialDemocratic forces in those countries where the conditions exist or might emerge for a struggle for the peaceful transition to socialism.

p We consider that in the world today, when the forces of socialism and the working-class, national liberation and democratic movements have the advantage over the forces of imperialism on a global scale, the thesis of the peaceful and non-peaceful transition to socialism, is correct. On the;basis of the class balance of forces and the development of the revolutionary movement in its country, every Communist or Workers’ Party has the right and is in duty bound to seek and find the most suitable forms, ways and means—peaceful, non-peaceful or a combination of the two—of seizing power in the specific conditions obtaining n the country. It is absolutely clear,,however, that the Party can,count on success in this struggle only if it relies on Marxism-Leninism and wages a consistent fight both against “Left” and Right-wing opportunists.

p We have long been familiar with opportunism, the old enemy of MarxismLeninism and the communist movement. It has always flourished when the danger it presented was underrated, and it has never relinquished its positions voluntarily. Our Party has considerable experience of combating opportunism, experience that has been accumulated since the end of the last century. Our experience shows that opportunism, both Right and “Left”, can be defeated only when an open, clear, consistent and principled struggle is waged against it. That is why we consider that the struggle for the purity of MarxismLeninism, for its creative development, against opportunism, against bourgeois ideology remains a cardinal task of each Communist Party, from the standpoint both of its own interests and those of the international communist movement.

p Comrades, another question I should like to deal with is that of the socialist world system as the greatest gain of the international communist and working-class movement, as the main factor of the further successful development of the world revolutionary process.

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p The emergence of the socialist world system has created a totally new situation in the world. The class struggle, while unceasingly unfolding in capitalist society, has, at the same time, grown into a struggle between states with a capitalist social system and states with a socialist social system. Today not only the world bourgeoisie but also the world proletariat possesses political, economic, ideological and military power organised on a state and an international scale. This power confronts that of imperialism as the main sobering and restraining force. If the world bourgeoisie should now try to settle the outcome of the class struggle by force of arms, the world socialist system would hit it with its entire might and, together with the working class of the capitalist countries and the national liberation movement, deal a crushing blow at imperialism.

p • -

p The socialist world system is the principal mainstay of the communist and working-class movements of the capitalist countries. Its existence, strength and force of attraction have opened for the proletariat the possibility of accomplishing the socialist revolution peacefully in some countries. The socialist world system is the bulwark of the proletariat of each coactry where the socialist revolution will be triumphant in the near or more distant future. It is the principal ally and bulwark of the national liberation and democratic movement, the main guarantee of the independence of countries that recently broke away from the grip of imperialism and colonialism, and the major factor in the struggle against war, for the preservation of world peace.

p It is because of all this and on account of the interests of our countries and the international interests of the communist and working-class movement that the Bulgarian Communist Party considers it its duty to struggle for and to contribute to the strengthening of the unity and solidarity of the socialist world system, to the all-round development of its might.

p This is expressed first and foremost in the consistent and steadfast building of socialist society in our own country. In this respect the Bulgarian people under the leadership of the Party have made great headway, both in the economic sphere and in the communist, patriotic and internationalist upbringing of the people and the youth.

p Suffice it to stress that Bulgaria now turns out as many industrial products in approximately a week as it did in the whole of the pre-war year 1939. On the basis of the objective laws of social and economic development, of scientific socialism, we are no.w building a developed socialist society and are striving to apply the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution. Profound, qualitative changes are taking place in the sphere both of the basis and the superstructure. Creatively utilising the historical experience of the Soviet Union and that of other socialist countries and generalising our own experience, we have, in recent years, worked out an improved system of managing the national economy and guiding the whole of our society at the present stage. The new system of management is being introduced successfully and has a beneficial impact on the development of the economy, social relations, science, education and culture, and helps raise the living standards of the people. Even a most cursory comparison of the progress achieved in socialist Bulgaria with the development of the neighbouring capitalist countries over the past 25 years most convincingly 295 shows the enormous advantages of the socialist system over the capitalist system.

p Besides building socialism in our country, we are also fulfilling our internationalist duties, strengthening our friendship and co-operation with all socialist countries, with Communist Parties and revolutionary movements in the whole world.

p In this respect we attach especial significance to the unity and solidarity of the countries that are members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Treaty, to the constant development of our fraternal friendship and all-round co-operation with them, with their peoples, with their Communist Parties.

p We regret that some European socialist countries have remained outside these communities. I shall not dwell on the causes nor shall I make an appraisal of this fact.

p Nevertheless, I cannot by-pass the attempts to substantiate the alleged redundance of and even harm caused by the existence of the Warsaw Treaty; and the attempts to incite and encourage in this way the nationalistic and opportunist forces in the countries of the socialist community for the purpose of disrupting it.

p The opponents of all and any blocs put on the same plane the aggressive alliances of capitalist states and the defensive alliance of the European socialist countries. This position is untenable even from the standpoint of ordinary human logic or abstract humanism.

p And how does this question stand in the light of the class struggle ?

p When capitalist states set up inter-state military-political organisations directed against the socialist countries, the working-class and national liberation movements in their own countries and in the newly independent countries; when these imperialist blocs not only threaten, but even undertake direct military action against socialist countries as happened in Korea and Cuba and as is now happening in Vietnam; when they endeavour to suppress progressive regimes and regain their lost positions in whole regions, as has been the case with Israel’s aggression against the Arab peoples; when they bestow protection upon West German militarism and yet have for 20 years now refused to extend -recognition to the German Democratic Republic, the first German state of workers and peasants in history; when imperialism strives to mount an offensive—using armed forces too—wherever it has a chance of doing so, is it not the right of the socialist countries, is it not their duty for the sake of their national interests, for the sake of the interests of the international communist and working-class movement, for the sake of the national liberation movement, for the sake of world peace and the existence of mankind, to draw all the conclusions and to do everything, to take absolutely all measures to strengthen their defensive might?

p Such is precisely the situation in the world today. And that is why we are strengthening our political, economic and defensive might, the unity and solidarity of the CMEA and Warsaw Treaty countries.

p We cannot agree with our critics who allege that the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance restricts our economic independence. On the contrary, 296 socialist economic integration is essential for promoting the economic development of our countries and of our entire community; it is an important factor of our independence from the capitalist economy. Therefore, we welcome the decisions of the Special 23rd CMEA Session.

p Neither can we agree with the assertion that the Warsaw Treaty allegedly stands in the way of relaxation of tension in Europe and in the world, and restricts the national independence and sovereignty of socialist countries. On the contrary, the Warsaw Treaty is the main obstacle in the path of antisocialist and revanchist forces and is the main guardian of peace in Europe. It conforms not only to the fundamental interests of the world revolutionary movement, not only to the interests of the socialist world system and the alliance of European socialist states as a whole, but also precisely to the ’interests of our national independence and sovereignty. In view of all this we welcome the decisions of the Budapest Meeting and we will, as before, contribute to the cause of strengthening the unity and solidarity of the Warsaw Treaty countries, to the cause of building up their defensive might.

p As is known, at the Budapest Meeting the Warsaw Treaty countries submitted a proposal to convene an all-European conference on matters of European security. Is it not clear that we are opponents of war and supporters of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems; that we oppose the partitioning of the world into blocs; that it is not we, but imperialism that is knocking together —on a voluntary basis or under pressure—-blocs directed against us? Is there any need to emphasise once again what has been emphasised more than once: that the Warsaw Treaty was created in reply to the establishment of the military aggressive NATO bloc; that the day when NATO ceases to exist the Warsaw Treaty will also terminate its existence, for there will be no further need of it?

p Speaking of the socialist community, we have also to dwell on questions of the nature of power, on socialist democracy and on the leading role of the Communist Party in socialist society.

p We have to take up these fundamental issues even if they have been elucidated a long time ago by the classics of Marxism-Leninism and by the 50-year development of the Soviet Union and the 25-year development of other socialist countries. We have to do this because in the past few years these issues have again become the main objectives of attacks by our enemies, and have also found themselves in the centre of criticism levelled at us by some functionaries of fraternal Parties.

p On the eve of the world’s first socialist revolution Lenin said: "... Whoever expects that socialism will be achieved without a social revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat is not a socialist" (Collected Works, Vol. 23, p. 95).

p We Bulgarian Communists not only do not conceal, but take pride in the fact that our state, our power is dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of people’s democracy. We are convinced that it is the dictatorship of the proletariat that is the highest form of democracy both because it is the power of the majority of the people, and also because its ultimate objective is not perpetuation of domination by the working class, but elimination of the class division itself and the construction of classless communist society.

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p The history of mankind knows no other power, no other democracy which has had such an objective and has consistently worked for its achievement.

p In the era of class society, state power expresses, and will invariably express₅ the interests and the will of the ruling class. There are various, forms of state power. But behind this diversity of forms there are and have to be those common features that determine the nature of power as that of a specific class. Eclecticism in this case can merely dim the essence of things, but it cannot alter them.

p The key issue of socialist power is the leading role of the working class, the -leading role of the Communist Party as the highest form of class organisation oj the proletariat. There is no socialist society, nor can there be one, without the leading role of the Communist Party, and this truth has been substantiated by mankind’s entire. experience, whether successful or unsuccessful, positive or negative, of the past half century. It is also proved by the fact that all attempts undertaken to alter the nature of the socialist .system in this or that country begin with an open offensive against the leading role of the Communist Party.

p There is nothing unnatural in the fact that our enemies would like to alter the nature of power in the socialist countries, “helping” us with theoretical advice and by subversive activity to replace socialist democracy by some form—any form—of bourgeois democracy. Who can doubt, for example, that the former Bulgarian bourgeoisie not only would not give the Bulgarian Communists the right to play a leading role in society, but would again, and with still greater fury, throw them into jails and concentration camps and shut their mouths with bullets?!

p What is unnatural in this case is that certain Communist functionaries join in such criticism of the “undemocratic” nature of the system in socialist countries and of the ruling role of the Communist Parties there.

p Criticising the social system in socialist countries they, unfortunately, deviate from the Marxist-Leninist teaching of the state, ignore the scientific, class analysis of the progress and requirements of socialist construction in our countries; they, in fact, proceed from the notion of “ideal” bourgeois democracy, of “pure” democracy: its multi-party system, opposition parties, struggle for electoral votes; parliamentary manoeuvres in forming this or that government, etc.

p Needless to say, the fight for democracy in capitalist countries is of great significance. It mobilises and activates the working people, creates conditions for isolating reactionary and fascist forces, unmasking anti-communism, and for rallying anti-imperialist and democratic forces. But the building of a democratic bourgeois society is not the ultimate objective of the struggle of the Working class, it is not the embodiment of its ideal. The fight for democracy in one or another capitalist country must, in the long run, create conditions for transforming the social system, for the transition to socialism.

p We are aware of the nature of this struggle, of how complex and difficult it is. A quarter of a century ago we tackled the same problem. And, when speaking about the socialist system as the principal force of our movement, we do not in the least underestimate the fight of the Communist Parties in capitalist countries and do not consider ourselves to be "more important" or better than our brothers who are fighting in different conditions for the triumph of our common cause. We are very well acquainted with these conditions and we 298 know what conviction, what loyalty and what moral strength a person has to possess to be a Communist in a society which unhesitatingly employs all means—from moral terror and economic coercion to prisons and bullets—in its struggle against communism. We admire Communists in the advanced capitalist countries, the Communists of Asia, Africa and Latin America and from the bottom of our heart wish them success in their heroic fight for freedom and national independence, for peace, democracy and socialism.

p As regards our countries, the struggle for political power is a bygone stage. This issue has been settled. Take, for example, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. For decades Bulgarian Communists, our working class, the Bulgarian people waged a grim struggle in order to seize power. Can anyone blame us for having absolutely no intention artificially to create a situation for the "free play of political forces", to give internal and external reactionary forces any chance once again to raise the question "Who will beat whom ?”

p The experience of the construction of a new society in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries clearly indicates that the essence of socialist democracy and the degree of its maturity are determined not by the existence of other parties besides the Communist Party. In the Soviet Union, for example, due to a range of specific conditions, the CPSU is the sole political party. In Bulgaria, as is known, besides the Bulgarian Communist Party, shoulder to shoulder with it, there exists and works for the benefit of socialism one of the oldest parties, the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union, Why then are the supporters of the theory of the multi-party system not satisfied at least with us ? Why do they consider that there is "no democracy" in Bulgaria? Evidently the crux of the matter is not whether a given country has one or several parties. Obviously, the apologists of the multi-party system under socialism do not just want several parties. They want to see parties with a programme differing from that of the Communist Party. They need, opposition parties which would fight against the Communist Party, weaken the socialist countries by their political and social demagogy, disrupt the unity of the working people, foster the formation of groupings, inspire careerism and impede the building of socialism. Regretfully it should be admitted that there are some who assert that this would be in the interests of socialist democracy.

p Understanding socialist democracy as an “ideal” bourgeois democracy does not suit us. Such an understanding runs counter to Marxism-Leninism and to the experience of socialist upbuilding in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. So far we know of no other successful experience. " A quarter of a century has passed since the victory of the socialist revolution in Bulgaria. Our old bourgeois state has long been destroyed. Our socialist state, which is developing and improving on the basis of the Leninist principle of democratic centralism, has been created in its place. It ensures and guarantees genuine economic and political sovereignty to the working people, to the entire nation. Our state does not serve a handful of exploiters, but the people, their real national and international interests. It pursues a consistent peaceloving foreign policy, a policy of friendship and fraternal alliance, co-operation and mutual assistance with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, a policy of peaceful coexistence with capitalist states, a policy of respect, mutual 299 understanding and friendship with all peoples. Our socialist state is fulfilling important and complex tasks of political, economic and cultural upbuilding not in the interests of a handful of exploiters, but in the interests of the people.

p The rule of the bourgeoisie in our country is long ended. The bourgeoisie, too, has been abolished as a class. Our industry and agriculture have long been socialist and are growing at a rate unprecedented in our history. The press, radio and television—all the mass media—serve the socialist cause. They bring up the people and youth in the communist spirit, inculcating the virtues of patriotism and internationalism, coming to grips with the survivals of bourgeois ideology and ethics, and working for peace and international friendship.

p Who needs any revival, any artificial resurrection, any recurrence of bourgeois democracy in our society ?

p What we need is not formal democracy, but the conditions necessary for the development of real socialist democracy, that is, an increasingly broader participation of the working class, of all working people, in running the country, in guiding socio-political, economic and cultural life, which are, indeed, the serious questions that the Communist Parties are working on in the socialist countries.

p Let me name just the main trends in our effort to improve, enrich and deepen socialist democracy in our country at the present stage:

p —the place and role of the representative bodies of government, such as the People’s Assembly and the regional and local people’s councils, are being enhanced not only by extending their powers, but by affording them the necessary conditions for more vigorous activity in planning, in co-ordinating and controlling the growth of society according to plan;

p —a number of measures are being taken to harmonise further the state and public principles in the guidance of different spheres of our life; for example, the Ministry of Culture, a government body, has been reorganised into a state-public Committee for Culture and Art, while organisations of the youth and women’s movements now have been granted the right to participate in and to control the work of government bodies and agencies in matters related to the interests of tha youth and women;

p —socialist democracy is expanding in production through an extension of the rights and initiative of state economic amalgamations and enterprises in planning, management and organisation of work; the powers and resources of administrations and staffs have been expanded to take part in decision-making in questions of finance, incentives and distribution, promotion of technical progress, and the like;

p —the powers and resources of public organisations, such as trade unions and the Patriotic Front, unions of writers, artists, composers, etc., have been extended.

p As you see, comrades, we do not conceive socialist democracy as something rigid and immutable. Growth of democracy is an intrinsic requirement of socialist society and a natural result of its development. While raising socialist construction in Bulgaria to a new level, our Party wants to develop, extend and deepen socialist democracy in accordance with the opportunities and 300 requirements of the stage in which we are building developed socialist society.

p Though this should be self-evident, I consider it necessary to say that we do_i not see our achievements in all fields, including the development of democracy, as the utmost that we could achieve. We are endeavouring to resolve problems, including those of developing socialist democracy, in the best possible way.and build socialist society at the most rapid pace possible.

p But we meet with grave objective and subjective difficulties, and therefore have unsolved problems and shortcomings, and we sometimes make mistakes.

p Reality and practice, comrades, very seldom live up fully to wishes. That is doubly true of a society being built on new principles radically differing from those known hitherto. The Party and its Central Committee have no made-to-order prescriptions for overcoming difficulties and solving all problems unerringly. Life goes ahead, it will not wait, and leaves no opportunities for endless speculation.

p Experience shows that difficulties, weaknesses and mistakes are best overcome <and rectified if the maximum use is made of the collective wisdom of the Central Committee, the Party, class, and people. And we are doing our utmost to use this collective wisdom, to develop the existing forms of enhancing the collective principle in all links and at all levels of leadership, to devise new forms for it, and to raise the scientific standard of guiding society. We shall be grateful to every Communist Party that will show us our slips and mistakes sincerely and fraternally, and give us its advice. We do not consider that as any interference in our internal Party or government affairs. Besides viewing objective criticism as an expression of the wish to give us comradely help, we are also deeply convinced that success in building socialist society in Bulgaria is an international, and not merely a national, undertaking.

p It stands to reason that in examining our slips and giving advice designed to overcome them, those who earnestly wish to help us, should proceed from the fact that we are building a socialist society, not any other, and should take into account the real conditions in which this is being done. We cannot agree with those whose criticism is at variance with our class positions, nor with those who criticise us without due knowledge and due understanding >of the essence of the social, economic and political processes under way in our country and the other socialist states, overlooking the changes wrought in the consciousness and spiritual life of our people.

p Comrades, we Communists are long accustomed to hearing from world reaction that our Parties are allegedly dependent on the CPSU, that we are "agents of Moscow". In recent years we have been hearing these fabrications also from some people in the fraternal Parties. Sometimes we are told this to our faces, and sometimes by innuendo. But in this case innuendo is less a display of tact and more expressive of a wish,to deprive us, of a chance to make a direct and clear retort.

p As a Bulgarian Communist, I am compelled to declare clearly and categorically that those who sling mud at the socialist system in the Soviet Union and the countries of the socialist community, are subverting the trust in socialism as a whole among the working class and the toiling masses.

p For all of half a century now, communism and the Soviet Union, 301 communism and the CPSU, have been indivisible for millions of people throughout the world, friend and foe alike. We cannot imagine the socialist commonwealth without the Soviet Union, nor the world communist movement without—let alone against—the CPSU. That is a basic truth.’

p More than three decades ago, the head of the Bulgarian Communist Party and General Secretary of the Communist International, Georgi Dimitrov, described the attitude towards the Soviet Union and the CPSU as the criterion of the actual revolutionism of political parties, movements and individuals. It is attempted these days to “substantiate” the absurd thesis that one can take a nationalist, more or less anti-Soviet stand, and still be a Communist internationalist!

p We have no doubt whatsoever that Georgi Dimitrov’s thesis about the attitude to the Soviet Union being the criterion of proletarian internationalism is still valid. What is more, it is doubly valid these days. Not just because the services rendered by the Soviet Union to the world communist and workers’ movement, to all mankind, have increased over the past decades, but also because its might, its role in the world revolutionary process, have increased immeasurably. The significance of this thesis has also grown by virtue of the emergence of the socialist world system, a fact which apart from its immense positive impact also contains the possibility of breeding nationalist tendencies in the socialist countries and of counterposing some of the newer socialist states to the first and most powerful socialist country. The importance of this thesis has also grown by virtue of the fact that attempts are made in the modern communist movement to undermine proletarian internationalism on the pretext of defending the equality and independence of Communist Parties.

p We Bulgarian Communists know from our own experience and the experience of our entire movement that the high international prestige of the Soviet Union and CPSU, the limitless trust, respect and affection shown for them by millions upon millions of people in the world constitute immense politicomoral capital for the world communist and workers’ movement. In vain are the hopes that one may undermine this prestige, and yet win the working people for communism anywhere in the world. The facts show that those who drift to nationalism and opportunism, who chime in with anti-Sovietism or fail to combat it resolutely enough, impair not only the correlation of forces between socialism and imperialism on a world scale, but also the positions of their own Party among the working class and the people.

p As for us, we shall always be unshakably true to the behests of Georgi Dimitrov and the conclusions drawn from our revolutionary struggle and the building of socialism in our country, true to our faith in the future, which is linked with the Soviet Union!

p Dear Comrades, next year we shall celebrate the centennial Of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, one of the greatest men in history, the founder and leader of the great Party of Russian Bolsheviks, the man who, together with Marx, has given his name to the revolutionary teaching that has armed the international working class and proved its strength in practice, inspiring, organising and bringing about the world’s first victorious socialist revolution.

p “With Leninism in our minds and hearts we shall win!", sang the Bulgarian 302 partisans, the Bulgarian Communists and partriots in the years of the antifascist struggle.

p With Leninism in our minds and hearts, we participants in this Meeting are building socialism and fighting capitalism and imperialism, for peace and democracy, for the triumph of our great cause.

p Lenin lives, Lenin is with us! Otherwise the world communist and workers’ movement would not have scored such successes in the battle against the class enemy.

p Lenin lives, Lenin is with us! Because we have grown and developed under the influence of Leninism, because the modern world communist movement has won all its victories under the banner of Leninism, because only under that banner can it win in future.

p We Bulgarian Communists see no better way of celebrating the centenary of Lenin’s birth than by successfully building socialist society, by fighting for the purity of Marxism-Leninism, for loyalty in practice to the principles of proletarian internationalism, by mounting an irreconcilable offensive against bourgeois ideology, by working for the restoration and consolidation of the politico-ideological unity of the world communist movement, for united action by all its contingents in the struggle for the complete victory of our great communist cause!

Thank you.