p A significant feature of the present epoch is the astonishingly rapid development of science, based on the powerful material foundation of the growing productive forces. This means that mankind has risen to the peak of its intellectual development, is opening ever wider horizons both in plumbing the secrets of nature and deepening its understanding of the objective laws governing social development. We are living in an age of gigantic scientific and technological progress, when the will and mind of all progressive social forces are directed towards subduing the elemental forces of nature. It is natural, therefore, that our Party, our Government and the whole Soviet people are sparing no effort to occupy an appropriate place in this great process. This has made a call for society’s best forces. And society, first and foremost the Party, have made these forces available to science.

p It is enough to glance at the geography of our socialist land to realise the tremendous scope and range of Soviet scientific development. The branches of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences set up in all the Union republics have long since become independent academies, recognised scientific centres possessing a large network of research institutes. The Academy has many branches in the autonomous regions and republics and in the country’s large economic centres, which are rich in natural resources. If we add to this the wide network of research institutes within the sphere of production itself—in industry, transport and agriculture—the scale and scope of scientific development will present a picture of imposing grandeur.

p The whole world knows of the outstanding achievements of Soviet scientists in mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, biology and many other fields of the natural and technical sciences. Our scientists have achieved brilliant successes in space exploration and in the study of the Universe. Never before in all its history can our science be said to have disposed of such favourable facilities for its development as it has today. Under socialism the scientific and technological revolution is the concern of the whole people, an object of constant care by the Party and the Government, one of the key sectors of the struggle for 19 communism. The Soviet people spare neither effort nor means for the further development of science. Scientists are assured of the full support of the Party and the Government for their scientific creativity.

p It is now an unalterable fact that the human race has reached a period marked by a great scientific and technological revolution which is attended by profound changes in the sphere of production and in social life. Each new advance in science has a growing impact on the life of society and speeds up the rate of technological and social progress. The world has known previous scientific and technological revolutions, but all were on an incomparably smaller scale than the present one. Obviously, the invention of the steam engine or the use of electricity can stand no comparison with the present discoveries that probe the mysteries of the atomic nucleus, with the creation of computer and controlling techniques, space rockets and research into the Universe. It is therefore the sacred duty of today’s progressive social forces to guard as the apple of one’s eye these great achievements of mankind against all reactionary forces from whatever quarter they may appear.

p Under the conditions of the modern scientific and technological revolution the importance of science in the development of the country’s economy and in the whole life of society is increasing year by year. In our day it is impossible to achieve the necessary economic growth rate without fullscale development of scientific research and the rapid application of its results in industry. The outcome of the competition between the two socio-economic systems— socialism and capitalism—largely depends on which of them will more effectively develop science and use its achievements in society’s material and spiritual life.

p To be sure, the modern scientific and technological revolution is not endless in time and space; it has its beginning and its end. As accumulated scientific experimental knowledge and its use in the material sphere of production became exhausted the scientific and technological revolution will gradually subside and its results will become public property. Following this there must needs be a definite length of time for evolutionary development and the accumulation of new experimental experience and scientific discoveries to prepare the conditions for a new revolutionary breakthrough, for the unfolding of a new, 20 still more grandiose scientific and technological revolution. The probable basis for the future breakthrough may be provided by biological science.

p In evaluating the modern process of the scientific and technological revolution it is safe to say that it has now reached the stage of its greatest range and effect. In this tremendous scientific and technological contest with capitalism the world socialist system must not only hold its vanguard positions, but come out on top in this gigantic battle, win it for the benefit of world progress and civilisation. What must contribute to this victorious outcome of the struggle in favour of peace, democracy and socialism?

p First of all, the greatest possible development of fundamental experimental science and a more rapid application of its results in the spheres of material production and the spiritual life of society. Fundamental experimental science, or, as Marx called it, "pure science", is not always ostentatious. It hides its unconquerable and matchless strength in the secret hiding places of laboratory experiments. Nevertheless, when this mighty power emerges upon the surface of social development and casts aside the veil of its ’secrets humanity at once becomes aware of its conquering tread. But there is a second division—applied science, which is always in the public eye, always in action, in use, and its results are always visible and tangible. Applied science is the revolutionary element that makes for scientific and technological progress. And yet, effective and serviceable though it is, it yields primacy to fundamental science.

p Naturally, both these trends in science are organically related. Nevertheless, they have their distinct delimitations. We must never forget the immutable truth that fundamental science is that potent force which sets the stage and scope for the development of the scientific and technological revolution. It plays today the same revolutionising role it has played in the past. Therefore, if we are bent on winning the field in the scientific and technological contest with the capitalist world, we must continue the general line at still further promoting fundamental science and keeping it closely related to applied science and the material sphere of production.

p Soviet fundamental science has won the lead in a number of important fields. Leaning on the achievements of science, 21 many branches of the national economy have attained a high level of progress. Wide-scale exploration of natural resources has provided the country with all forms of mineral raw materials. In their time the founders of scientific communism foresaw that after the revolutionary forces would have broken the chains of capitalism, and together with them, destroyed also class antagonisms, mankind would direct all the efforts towards subduing the elemental forces of nature and using her inexaustible material sources for the good of man. A gigantic role in the solution of this problem belongs to science.

p In our country it is generally accepted that science enters into the labour process as an important productive force. "When the production process becomes a sphere of application for science," Marx wrote, "then, vice versa, science becomes a factor, so to speak, a function of the production process.”  [21•*  This scientific forecast of Marx’s operates with remarkable accuracy. Scientific research today is being directed more and more towards a definite purpose aimed at discovering new sources of technical progress, tapping new springs for a steep increase in output, for improving labour efficiency and steadily raising the standard of living. In this connection the question naturally arises as to what fundamental changes take place in the relations between science and production in the context of the modern scientific and technological revolution.

p First, on the basis of the latest discoveries in science itself there have arisen improved technological processes, new industries and new kinds of material production. Thus, as a result of nuclear physics research a new industry has arisen—nuclear engineering; on the basis of solid-state physics and high-pressure physics there has been created an industry manufacturing new semiconductor instruments, artificial diamonds and other new materials. Owing to the wide use of these achievements industries such as radio engineering, radio-electronics and instrument-making have taken on an entirely new look. Polymer chemistry has made it possible to organise the production of synthetic materials with inbuilt pre-set properties. A number of other industries are being reconstituted, changing the character of labour and making for its greater efficiency.

p The complex mechanism of modern science and its unprecedented growth in scope and range necessitate an immense development of the material and technical base for scientific research. As a result there has arisen a whole "science industry" comprising gigantic engineering structures and complex installations and devices. In turn, the development of production poses more and more new practical problems to science. This process of mutual enrichment between science and production becomes an unbreakable link in the complex of man’s influence on nature and is a characteristic feature of the modern scientific and technological revolution.

p Second, on the basis of the high level of experimental work, the process of utilising the achievements of science is being unprecedentedly speeded up, and the period between scientific discoveries and their practical application is rapidly narrowing. This tendency is confirmed by numerous examples. Thus, the principle on which photography was based was not realised for practical purposes until more than a century later (1727-1839); in telephone communication this took a little over 55 years (1820-1876); in radio— 35 years (1867-1902); in radiolocation—15 years (1925-1940); in television—12 years (1922-1934); for the A-bomb—6 years (1939-1945); for the transistor—5 years (1948-1953); for the integrated circuit—3 years (1958-1961).

p To this we would add the eloquent testimony of the British scientist S. Lilley to the effect that "when the world learned in 1945 about the atomic bomb, eminent scientists and eminent politicians were nearly unanimous in telling us that it would take at least fifty years to discover how to ’tame the atom’ to the peaceful use of producing power. Yet a 5,000 kw nuclear power station started work near Moscow in June 1954.. .”.  [22•*  The tendency towards reducing the time between scientific research and the design and production stage is continuing to grow. The speed with which scientific achievements aYe applied in practice is an important condition of progress in production and throughout social life. Communist construction demands the continual strengthening of the ties between science and production in order to speed up society’s progress.

p Third, science is rapidly developing inside production 23 itself, as witnessed by the growing network of scientific laboratories and institutes in industry and agriculture, while at the same time the proportion of science workers and specialists in all branches of the Soviet national economy is steadily growing. Science is becoming the property of ever widening circles of workers, who are society’s main productive force. The closer relation between science and production makes for a steady improvement in the efficiency of all means of production, for a higher intellectual potential among the workers of science and industry, for more favourable conditions for new and more progressive scientific discoveries. All these circumstances enable more effective use to be made of the forces of nature and her wealth, make it possible to change natural conditions, improve the soil, regulate the water regime and the development of flora and fauna, and eventually of the climate as well.

p Fourth, the process of interaction among the sciences is steadily increasing, especially among those which were never connected before or were poorly connected with each other. This interaction and interpenetration among the numerous trends in science in the process of research and its practical application derive from the unity of nature’s phenomena themselves, which form the basis of the inorganic world and the world of living matter. This in generalised form is exemplified by the appearance of new scientific trends, such as biophysics, biochemistry and others. In cybernetics we have the concentrated expression of the ties among numerous sciences. This new field of science deals with the theory of control in different spheres of human activity in which use is made of the data of such sciences as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, computor techniques, etc. In our day a continuous process of differentiation of knowledge is taking place, and therefore the development of science is grounded not only on the activities of individual scientists, but on the co-operation between numerous laboratories and institutes, especially when dealing with complex problems.

p Fifth, science is penetrating more and more into all spheres of state administration and economic management. The Communist Party, in its leadership of the state and society, places the business of management of the socioeconomic processes on a firm scientific foundation. This is one of the most important objective laws governing social 24 development under socialism. The need for widely developing and applying scientific methods in business management enhances the role and responsibility of scientists. Elaboration of the theoretical principles of management of the productive, economic, social and spiritual processes in our society is becoming one of the most important tasks of Soviet science. The economics of the various industries and of the national economy as a whole have grown to such an extent that their management is only possible on a strictly scientific basis. At the same time the training of cadres of a special category designed to manage science itself has become an urgent problem.

p Sixth, the scientific and technological revolution turns science into an active operative element of modern material and spiritual culture. It not only changes the character of production, but exercises a growing influence on the improvement of social relations among people. This in the first place occurs in the changing nature of social labour, which, on the basis of a great speeding up of large-scale mechanisation and automation, acquires the quality of an engineer’s or technician’s work both in industry and in agriculture. Important problems of social development now being tackled in the U.S.S.R. in a practical manner include the elimination of major distinctions between town and country and between mental and manual labour, the complete obliteration of distinctions between the working class and the peasantry, and the conversion of all citizens of the land of socialism into working members of a classless communist society. It is in this direction that Soviet socialist society is developing.

In an antagonistic, exploiters’ society the results and effects of the scientific and technological revolution are extremely contradictory and tend to multiply the negative aspects of capitalist production.  [24•*  The socialist transformation of social relations, on the other hand, makes scientific and technological progress a consciously planned and controlled process whose ultimate objective is the good of the whole community and the many-sided development of the personality of each of its members. Lenin’s words to the 25 effect that "socialism alone will liberate science from its bourgeois fetters, from its enslavement to capital, from its slavery to the interests of dirty capitalist greed"  [25•*  have come true.