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p From its very inception, the Soviet Union has adhered to the principles of wholehearted support to and fraternal solidarity with all colonies and semi-colonies. Shortly after the October Revolution, Lenin said that the “revolutionary movement of the peoples of the East can now develop effectively, can reach a successful issue, only in direct association with the revolutionary struggle of our Soviet Republic against international imperialism".  [265•1 

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p Solidarity with oppressed peoples and backing for their fight for freedom and independence have always been one of the mainstays of Soviet foreign policy, as was quite evident in the initial policy statements of the Soviet Government: the Decree on Peace, Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia, and Appeal to All Moslem Workers of Russia and the East, in which the Soviet Government categorically repudiated all the treaties signed by the overthrown tsarist administration on the partition of Turkey and Persia. The Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited Peoples marked a complete break of the socialist state with the barbarous policy of bourgeois “ civilisation" by which the well-being of the exploiters in a few select nations was based on the enslavement of hundreds of millions of working people in the colonies and small countries. In December 1919, the Seventh All-Russia Congress of Soviets adopted a special decree on oppressed nations, pledging its support for all classes, peoples and races fighting against imperialist violence and exploitation, and expressing full readiness of Russian workers and peasants to give them both moral and material support.

p In line with these new foreign policy principles, the Soviet Union bent all efforts to establish friendly relations with neighbouring countries in whose oppression the tsarist autocracy had participated together with other imperialists. On February 26, 1921, Moscow was the venue for the signing of a Soviet-Iranian Treaty which put the seal on the final abolition of unequal relations between Russia and Persia. The Soviet Government was first in recognising Afghanistan as an independent sovereign state and, on February 28, 1921, a treaty was concluded between Soviet Russia and Afghanistan which set the tone for good-neighbour relations between the two states for many years to come. As its preamble declares, it was designed to cement friendly relations between Russia and Afghanistan and to safeguard Afghanistan’s real independence. On March 16, 1921, the Soviet Government *igned a treaty with the Turkish Government which provided for amicable relations based on the mutual interests of both countries.

p Further, the Soviet Government held out the hand of friendship and assistance to the Mongolian people, who, with fraternal support from Soviet Russia, had asserted 267 their independence and begun to build socialism. On May 31, 1924, a pact was signed in Peking covering the general principles for ironing out outstanding issues between China and the Soviet Union. This pact annulled the unfair conventions, treaties and pacts concluded by the tsarist government with the Chinese administration, and all of tsarist Russia’s agreements with third countries infringing upon China’s interests and sovereign rights. The Soviet Government renounced all concessions and privileges that the tsarist government had previously extorted from the Chinese Government. It reaffirmed renunciation of its claim to the Russian share of the indemnities extracted by foreign states from China after the suppression of the 1900 anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion. The equitable treaties between the Soviet Union and Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia and China were a great contribution to their fight to escape the enslaving treaties and pacts with imperialist powers.

p The young Soviet state did not confine itself to moral, political and diplomatic backing for neighbouring peoples. Despite the limited opportunities and difficulties arising from the Civil War and imperialist intervention, Soviet Russia extended material and even military aid to help their fight against foreign oppressors and plunderers and to help preserve and reinforce their national independence. Between 1920 and 1921, the Soviet Government gave Turkey over 33,000 rifles, more than 300 machine-guns, 54 guns, some 58 million cartridges and 130,000 shells. In 1921, the Soviet Government gave Turkey gratuitous aid in the form of 10 million gold rubles and supplied equipment and other materials for a Turkish munitions factory. In 1932, the Soviet Union gave Turkey an interest-free credit of 8 million gold dollars. With this money and the assistance of Soviet specialists, Turkey built her two biggest plants: the textile mills at Kayseri and Nazilli, which were fully equipped with Soviet machinery.

p The Soviet Government, further, extended financial and technical assistance to Afghanistan, which had upheld its independence against the British colonialists. Substantial assistance was also rendered to the Chinese people who, during the years of the Japanese invasion, received Soviet loans, military equipment and modern weapons, including modern aircraft. Soviet military advisers, pilots and other 268 military experts helped China to build and strengthen her army and themselves directly participated in her just struggle against the Japanese invaders.

p In its consistent fight to uphold the rights and interests of all oppressed peoples, the Soviet Union condemned the mandate system established by the League of Nations after the First World War as another variant of colonialism. The Soviet Government refused to recognise the British mandates over Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan, the French mandate over Syria and the Lebanon, and all other imperialist claims to mandated territories.

p The victory in the last war over the most reactionary forces of imperialism was a key condition of progress for the national liberation movement. The Soviet people’s contribution to the victory was decisive. The great tide of the national liberation revolution finally swept away the colonial system and there has emerged a new force in international affairs. The newly independent states began to take an active part in world affairs. Objectively, this is basically a progressive, revolutionary and anti-imperialist force that is an ally of the socialist states in the struggle against the aggressive policies of imperialism. In these circumstances, the theory and practice of Soviet foreign policy in relation to newly independent states have acquired an even greater significance for the development of international relations.

p Many political parties spearheading the campaign of the patriotic forces for the national revival of liberated countries seek to utilise the rich experience of .the C.P.S.U., which was able to lead the Soviet Union to the forefront of world economic, scientific and cultural progress in a very short historical period.

p The 23rd Congress of the C.P.S.U. vividly demonstrated the firm alliance between the forces of socialism and all forces fighting colonialism and neo-colonialism. Of the 86 delegations from Communist and Workers’, National-Democratic and Left-wing Socialist Parties present at the Congress, more than 50 were from Asia, Africa and Latin America, including nine National-Democratic Parties from young sovereign African states. The Congress reiterated Lenin’s policy of wholehearted support for the national liberation movement in the fight for a final end to colonial and neo-colonial oppression.

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p The Soviet Union was one of the first countries to recognise the new African and Asian sovereign states and their progressive regimes. The Soviet Union maintains diplomatic relations with over 80 non-socialist countries, of whom about 60 are in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In his reply to Emir Amanulla Khan on establishing diplomatic relations between Soviet Russia and Afghanistan, Lenin wrote: “The establishment of permanent diplomatic relations between the two great peoples will open up extensive possibilities for mutual assistance against any encroachments by foreign predators on the freedom and wealth of others."  [269•1  These words still express the very essence of Soviet relations with all young sovereign states.

p With the birth of the Soviet state, for the first time in history there arose genuinely equitable relations between states big and small, strong and weak. All peoples fighting to preserve and assert their independence highly value the principle of complete equality to which the Soviet Union scrupulously adheres in its economic, political and cultural relations with other nations. President Sekou Toure of Guinea says: “We appreciate that the Soviet Union has a population dozens of times greater than that of our country and that our small country has incomparably fewer resources than the mighty Soviet Union. It is, therefore, all the more gratifying that equality is the permanent mark of relations between our two countries, a big and a small one."  [269•2 

p The Soviet Union initiated action in extending the rights of new sovereign states to take part in United Nations activities. It insisted that they should have the opportunity to express their opinion on all issues aifecting present-day international relations. The adoption at the 18th General Assembly of amendments to Articles 23, 27 and 61 of the U.N. Charter was an important step towards modernising the structure of the chief U.N. agencies, in line with the new world situation as a result of the success of the national liberation struggle and the disintegration of the imperialist colonial system. These amendments increased the number of Security Council members from 11 to 15, and of the Economic and Social Council members from 18 to 27. The Soviet 270 Union insisted on these amendments to the U.N. Charter because it was convinced that they would present fresh opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of foreign policies of young African and Asian states.

p The U.S.S.R. has always given firm support to the peoples of the Middle East in their battle for attaining and strengthening national independence. It resolutely backed the demands of Syria and the Lebanon for the withdrawal of British and French troops, and the demand by the Egyptian Government for the evacuation of British troops from Egypt and the Sudan. The Soviet stand in asserting Libyan people’s right to self-determination and an independent existence did much to get the U.N. General Assembly to adopt its resolution proclaiming the independence of Libya. The Soviet Government, further, helped in the national liberation struggle of the peoples of Morocco and Tunisia, and aided the Algerian people in their heroic war of liberation and independence. Algeria received not only moral and political support from the Soviet Union, but also substantial material aid by way of arms, medical supplies and food.

p The Soviet Government gave its most resolute support for the Egyptian nationalisation of the Suez Canal. Due to the efforts of the Soviet Union, other socialist states and a number of unaligned nations, the imperialist attempts to restore foreign monopoly control of the Suez Canal were foiled.

p The Soviet Union safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of young African and Asian states in the latter half of the 1950s, when the imperialists undertook several armed ventures for the purpose of perpetuating or restoring colonial regimes. When, in 1956, Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt, the Soviet Union and the other socialist states helped the Egyptian people to defend their freedom and independence. The imperialist efforts to crush the Egyptian people by economic blockade were defeated, and the Soviet Government gave a stern warning of its intention to use armed force to protect Egypt unless the aggressors called off their attack.

p The Egyptian people’s resistance and the Soviet Union’s stern warning compelled the aggressors to halt their intervention and leave Egyptian territory. President Nasser told a Soviet Government delegation, headed by Soviet Prime 271 Minister A. N. Kosygin, that “the United Arab Republic, especially the inhabitants of Port Said, will never forget the stand taken by the Soviet Union in 1956 and the backinggiven us at that time. That backing gave us assurance of victory and made it possible for all progressive forces to oppose imperialism".  [271•1 

p The significance of the failure of imperialist aggression against Egypt went well beyond the boundaries of the Middle East. It was a historic event which demonstrated the scope of the national liberation struggle, the mounting role of the Soviet Union and other socialist states in international affairs, and the importance of the alliance between socialism and the national liberation movement.

p After their defeat in Egypt, the colonialists attempted to have their revenge in other parts of the Middle East. In the autumn of 1957, NATO naval forces and the U.S. Sixth Fleet were concentrated off the shores of Syria. Once again, the aggressive plans were nipped in the bud, due in large measure to the decisive stand taken by the Soviet Union, which declared itself ready “to have its Armed Forces take part in repulsing aggression and punishing the violators of peace".  [271•2  The people of Syria well appreciated the Soviet support; on behalf of the President of the Syrian Republic, the Syrian Government and people, a Syrian Government delegation to the Soviet Union expressed “gratitude to the Government and people of the Soviet Union for the friendly support and resolute stand taken by the Soviet Government and people at a time when Syria was menaced by aggression and foreign intrigues against the independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Republic".  [271•3 

p In 1958, the Soviet Union came out against the U.S.- British intervention in the Lebanon and Jordan for the purpose of suppressing the national liberation revolution in Iraq. The Soviet attitude played a vital part in foiling the imperialist plans to export counter-revolution to Iraq and helped the people of the Lebanon and Jordan to retain their independence.

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p When a new crisis flared up in the Middle East in the summer of 1967 due to the attack by the Israeli extremists, egged on by the imperialists, on the U.A.R., Syria and Jordan, the Soviet Union and other socialist states came out in defence of the Arab nations, demanding an immediate end to the aggression. On Soviet initiative, an extraordinary session of the U.N. General Assembly was summoned to examine the question of the Israeli aggression. Due to the persistence of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, the Security Council adopted, in November 1967, a resolution on resolving the Middle East crisis, stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all territory occupied by them after June 5, 1967. This strengthened the Arab position.

p It is clear that the chief aim of the imperialist-inspired attack on the Arab countries in 1967 was to bring down the progressive regimes in the U.A.R. and Syria. But this has not been achieved. Subsequent events indicate that the imperialist attempts to curb the progress of the national liberation revolutions in the Middle East have also ended in failure.

p The U.S.S.R. also helped Cyprus to stave off the threat of armed intervention which hung over the island in 1964, and supported the Indian struggle to liberate the Indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu from the Portuguese colonialists.

p In their war against the French colonialists, the Vietnamese people received both moral and material backing from the Soviet Union and it was in no small measure due to Soviet efforts that the 1954 Geneva Agreements terminated the war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, with the recognition of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of these countries. In the years to follow, the Soviet people have resolutely opposed the U.S. imperialist aggression in Vietnam. Thanks to help from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, the Vietnamese people have scored great successes in repulsing the imperialist aggression. On March 31, 1968, former President Johnson said that he had issued orders to restrict the bombing of the Republic of Vietnam and announced the U.S. readiness to begin negotiations for an end to the Vietnam war. Later he ordered, with effect from November 1, 1968, a halt to the bombing and shelling 273 of D.R.V. territory from land and sea; he announced that the U.S.A. was prepared to take part in talks to be attended not only by D.R.V. representatives and Saigon government officials, but by representatives of the National Lib.eration Front of South Vietnam as well. All this is ample testimony to the important shifts in favour of the Vietnamese patriotic forces and a fresh indication that the U.S. military machine cannot win the Vietnam war and that the whole U.S. policy in Indochina is deadlocked.

p Ever since the signing of the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina, the Soviet Government has done everything in its power to prevent foreign intervention in Laos. It is largely due to the Soviet efforts that a new international agreement on Laos (the 1962 Geneva Agreement) was concluded, providing for the restoration of peace and national unity to the country. The Soviet Union and the other socialist states have more than once acted in defence of the independence and sovereignty of Cambodia and have condemned the provocation of the imperialists and their hirelings against the Cambodian people.

p The peoples of Africa, striving to consolidate their national independence and wipe out colonialism on the continent, also enjoy the support of the Soviet Union and the other socieilist states. The U.S.S.R. was quick to come out in support of the Congolese people and gave them moral, political and material support in their just struggle against the colonialists. As that outstanding champion of the African national liberation movement, Patrice Lumumba, once said, “The Soviet Union was the only great power to pledge support for the people of the Congo right from the outset of their struggle."  [273•1  The Soviet Government spoke out in defence of the African peoples under Portuguese colonialism, proclaiming the duty of all states and peoples to compel Portugal to put an end to its brutal colonial war in Angola, Mozambique and “Portuguese” Guinea and to abide by the U.N, Declaration on the Granting of Independence to All Colonial Countries and Peoples. The U.S.S.R. has always pursued a consistent and principled policy on the popular African struggle against the racial action of the colonialists. It has 274 no diplomatic, consular nor commercial relations with the racist government of the Republic of South Africa. The Soviet Government has refused to recognise the racist regime that has usurped power in Southern Rhodesia, and has declared its complete solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe.

p The peoples of Latin America find the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries reliable allies in their fight against imperialism. The Soviet Government and people quickly came to the defence of the Dominican people fighting for their freedom and independence against U.S. imperialist aggression.

p In 1960, the Soviet delegation to the United Nations introduced a proposal at the 15th General Assembly session for a declaration proclaiming the immediate granting of complete independence to all colonies, trust and other non-self- governing territories. The essence of the Soviet proposal was embodied in the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to All Golonial Countries and Peoples, subsequently adopted by the U.N. General Assembly. It declared, in part, that the General Assembly “solemnly proclaims the need to put an immediate and unqualified end to colonialism in all its forms and manifestations".  [274•1  In f965, the Soviet delegation brought to the attention of the 20th General Assembly session a Draft Declaration on Non-intervention in the Internal Affairs of States and on Safeguarding Their Independence and Sovereignty. This resolution met with the support of the overwhelming majority of African, Asian and Latin American states, with the result that more than 50 of them joined the Soviet Union in sponsoring the motion. Eventually, the Declaration gained the support of 109 U.N. members.

p The Soviet Union’s profound concern for securing peaceful conditions for economic and cultural progress in Asia and Africa and the desire of Soviet foreign policy to assist in the peaceful solution of outstanding issues between them were apparent at the time of the Indo-Pakistani conflict in the autumn of 1965. Thanks to the Soviet Government’s initiative and good offices a meeting was arranged in Tashkent between President Ayub Khan of Pakistan and Prime Minister Lai Bahadur Shastri of India. At their request, the Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin also took part in the 275 negotiations. The Tashkent talks led to the establishment of peaceful relations between India and Pakistan. The Soviet Union had once again demonstrated to the world that it is a sincere and selfless friend of the newly independent states.

p Today, it is more than ever important lor the Afro-Asian countries to be able to develop mutually beneficial and equitable economic relations with the socialist countries.

p It is typical of the economic, financial and technical assistance given by the socialist states to the newly independent states that it should primarily bolster the progressive economic structure, create and promote the most vital sectors of the economy and halt the dependence of these countries on foreign capital. Co-operation with the socialist countries is not hedged in terms that would infringe on the independence and dignity of the developing countries. When the U.S.S.R. offers economic and technical aid to the developing countries, it does not seek any special advantages or privileges for itself.

p The establishment and development of economic ties between the developing countries and the whole socialist community were concomitant with colonial disintegration. Trade relations between them received a special boost. Once they had gained the opportunity independently to establish international economic contacts, the emergent nations broadened their trade ties with the socialist world. Between 1963 and 1967 Soviet trade with them grew by more than 35 per cent, while the total increase in Soviet foreign trade in the same period was 25.6 per cent. The proportion of these states in aggregate Soviet foreign trade has been increasing from year to year and they are finding that the Soviet Union is quite prepared to accept their traditional exports in exchange for Soviet equipment and in repayment of credits.

p The greater the economic viability of the socialist community, the larger the scale of its technical and economic aid. There are thousands of Soviet experts in various branches of the economy, technology, science and culture in African and Asian states.

p Economic and technical collaboration between the Soviet Union and the United Arab Republic has reached especially great proportions. With Soviet assistance, the U.A.R. is building over fOO enterprises, including those in the petroleum, iron and steel, extractive, chemical, engineering, 276 textile, food and shipbuilding industries. Do/ens of factories built with Soviet assistance are already in commission, including the biggest antibiotic plant in the Middle East, a concentration plant, a machine-building and a coking plant and an oil refinery.

p India, too, is building scores of industrial plants with Soviet help. Already in commission are such industrial giants as Bhilai Steel Works, the power station at Neivelli, an oil refinery at Bakaun, and an engineering works. In 1965, agreement was reached on the construction of a new heavy engineering works at Bokaro with an initial capacity of 1.5-2 million tons of steel and the prospect of raising this capacity to 4 million tons.

p A bakery, a motor repair works, the Jalalabad irrigation canal and power station, and the highway across the Hindu Kush mountain range have all been constructed with Soviet aid in Afghanistan; the port of Hodeida in the Yemen, a sugar refinery and tobacco factory in Nepal, and a cannery and saw mill in Guinea. Among other projects under construction or already in commission are a hydroelectric plant in Cambodia, irrigation canals in Burma, dams in Algeria, a deep-sea port and fish cannery in Somalia, an oil refinery in Ethiopia and a number of factories in Mali. Soviet engineers are helping Syria to build a hydroelectric plant on the Euphrates. In addition to the aid in industry, agriculture, transport and communications, the Soviet Union is also helping to build hospitals, schools and colleges, research institutes and cultural establishments.

p The Soviet people have been helping the newly independent states to train their own qualified manpower. Tens of thousands of skilled workers and other specialists have been trained in the construction of enterprises with Soviet assistance. In some countries of Asia and Africa, the Soviet Union has helped to establish various schools, including higher schools, among them polytechnical institutes in India, Burma, Afghanistan and Guinea, a technological institute in Cambodia, a college in Tanzania, and a medical school in Mali. Dozens of educational centres were established in the U.A.R., Ethiopia and other countries for training specialists. Tens of thousands of specialists were trained for the developing countries at schools and enterprises in the Soviet Union.

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p When the newly independent states work in close collaboration with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, they are able to resist the economic arm-twisting and blackmail from the imperialist powers. The very existence of the world socialist community has deprived imperialism of the possibility of falling back on economic blockade, a favourite weapon against the developing countries.

p The assistance of the U.S.S.R. and other socialist states has encouraged the development of progressive tendencies in the economic and social life of the developing countries. It has helped them to carry through nationalisation, stimulated the birth and promotion of the state economic sector and facilitated industrialisation.

p By its decisive contribution to the preservation of peace, the socialist community has helped to reinforce the independence of all the young states. So long as they can enjoy conditions of peace, the developing countries can eradicate the harsh legacy of colonialism, found and promote a national economy and gain economic independence. That is why most developing countries back the peace-loving foreign policy of the Soviet Union.

The interests of the socialist states and the newly independent countries are identical on many major issues of contemporary international relations. Co-operation and firm alliance with the Soviet Union are, therefore, a prerequisite of success in the fight to ward off imperialism and its neocolonialist policy, in the struggle for peace, national sovereignty and social progress.