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p Much of what has already taken place or what is currently taking place in the life of nations, of what has come about as a result of human labour conducted over a long period of time, wars and revolutions and the succession of socio- economic formations is in one way or another reflected on the political map of the world.

p To comprehend these changes and the place of individual states on the world arena it is necessary to take into account the principal features of the given epoch. Lenin wrote: ".. .only a knowledge of the basic features of a given epoch can serve as the foundation for an understanding of the specific features of one country or another.”

p As epochs succeeded one another the map of the world changed mirroring the rise or disappearance of states.

p A decisive role in changing the world was played by the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 which triumphed in Russia. It radically transformed her political and socioeconomic make-up and, as Lenin put it, "has charted the road to socialism for the whole world and has shown the bourgeoisie that their triumph is coming to an end".

p The Great October Socialist Revolution opened a new chapter in world history, ushered in the general crisis of imperialism and the period of transition from capitalism to socialism. The first indication of this crisis became apparent when such a vast country as Russia broke away from what had once been an integral world system of capitalism; then 8 the Mongolian People’s Republic took the road leading to a new life.

p The general crisis of capitalism entered its second stage during the Second World War (1939-45). It was a stage of fresh revolutionary successes. The chain of imperialism in Eurasia was broken all along the front. The people of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, China, the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia embarked upon socialist construction.

p New life came to stay throughout the huge territory extending from the Baltic and Adriatic seas to the Pacific Ocean. The world socialist system, a new historical community of states, appeared in the world.

p In the mid-1950s capitalism entered the third stage of its general crisis. This time the crisis was not provoked by a world war but developed in the process of the economic competition between socialism and capitalism and the further weakening of imperialism’s positions in the world. It was in these conditions that the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959 and socialism, which had already won positions in Europe and Asia, stepped across the ocean to Central America.

p The era of the liberation of the colonial nations is connected with the victories of socialism. From 1945 to 1972 more than seventy young national states emerged on the ruins of the world colonial empires. This is the most important historical development since the victory of the October Revolution in Russia and the emergence of the world socialist community.

p The table below shows how the world has changed since the first years following the October Socialist Revolution in Russia.

p The figures show that the balance of forces in the world arena has decisively changed in favour of socialism.

At its 24th Congress in 1971, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union noted that the balance of forces on the international scene is continuing to change in favour of peace, democracy and socialism, and that the militant alliance of the three main revolutionary forces of our day—socialism, the international working-class movement, and the peoples’ national liberation struggle—is continuing to strengthen.

9 Countries 1919 1969 Area Population Area Population sq. km. (mln) % (rain) % sq. km. (mlns) % (mln) % 1. The world 135.8  [9•*  100 1,777 100 135.8 100 3,520 100 of which: a . Socialist coun- tries 21.7 16 138 7.8 35.2 25.9 1,210 34.4 b. Other countries 114.1 84 1,639 92.2 100.6 74.1 2,310 65.6 2. Major imperia- list powers  [9•**  and their colo- nies 60.3 44.4 855 48.1 12.3 9.0 539.2 15.3 3. Colonies and semi-colonies 97.8 72.0 1,235 69.4 5.0 3.7 36.3 1.0 4. Former colonies and semi-colo- nies which be- came sovereign states after 1919 (not counting socialist states) —- — —- — 79.1 58.2 1,616 45.9

p The political division of the modern world is a very complicated one.

p By the beginning of 1972, 129 states were members of the United Nations Organisation (UNO), established in 1945 on the basis of a voluntary agreement of sovereign states to maintain peace and security and promote peaceful cooperation.

p States are either bourgeois or socialist depending on their social system.

p The Soviet Union is the world’s first socialist state. In the Soviet Union and other socialist countries all the basic means of production are common property, people work for themselves, the nation and power are one, and the working masses actively participate in the administration of the state.

p The overwhelming majority of bourgeois states are 10 experiencing diverse forms of economic, political arid military dependence on powerful imperialist states. The latter still have colonies which they ruthlessly exploit. The so-called non-self-governing, or trust territories, are in effect colonies, too.

p Neo-colonialism, imperialism’s post-war offspring, is a system of indirect economic, political and military control by the imperialist powers over young national states. Neo- colonialism is designed to help the imperialist powers retain their domination over countries which had cast off the colonialist yoke.

p Unwilling to give up its policy of territorial aggrandisement and recarving the map of the world, imperialism has left the nations a large number of diverse territorial and border disputes which at times sharply aggravate the political situation in various parts of the world.

p Violating the sovereign rights of the nations, the imperialists attempt to justify their actions by alleging that in our day national frontiers have lost their meaning, and that the concept of national sovereignty of states, including their territorial integrity, has outlived itself. In effect, however, the full and exclusive authority of states within their national boundaries is their inalienable and sacred right.

p By the beginning of 1971 the world population was estimated at 3,700 million, compared with less than 2,000 million in 1930, just forty years ago. It has also been estimated that the average annual population growth is 2 per cent, or 60-70 million people. At this rate there will be twice as many people in the world by 2000. The highest population growth is registered in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

p Almost 2,000 nations inhabit the earth. Of them only 200 number over a million people each and it is these 200 nations that make up 95 per cent of the total population of the world.

p About 1,500 million people are economically active, that is, they take part in social production. Depending on their place in production and their relation to the means of production the population of the world is divided into large social groups, or classes.

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p The proletariat and the peasantry together with office and other hired workers comprise the overwhelming majority of the population of capitalist countries, while the bourgeoisie, the landowners and other exploiter classes make up the minority.

p In socialist countries there are no exploiter classes. Their population consists of two friendly classes—the workers and the peasants. An important place is occupied by the intelligentsia which emerged from the midst of workers and peasants and with whom it has the closest bonds arising from common interests and objectives.

p The proletariat is the most consistent revolutionary class of the modern epoch, the principal motive force of the revolutionary transformation of the world. In socialist countries the working class totals 160 million people. There is a vast army of the proletariat in capitalist countries and developing countries.

p Communist and Workers’ Parties steeled in class battles are the revolutionary vanguard of the working class and all working people. These parties have demonstrated their ability not only to explain but to carry the great ideals of scientific communism into effect.

p The ranks of the Communists are growing and so is their influence with the masses. Today there are about 90 Communist and Workers’ Parties in the world uniting 50 million of the most conscious and active representatives of the working people.

p Currently world economy is living through an unprecedented scientific and technological revolution and undergoing major structural changes. On the whole, industrial production has attained considerable dimensions, but it is very unevenly distributed as regards individual countries and major industrial areas.

p The USA and the USSR, the two greatest industrial countries, account for about 50 per cent of the world’s industrial output.

p The average annual production figures characterising world agriculture today are: over 1,000 million tons of grain, more than 10 million tons of cotton fibre, about four million tons of coffee, over a million tons of cocoa beans, over a million tons of tea and approximately the same amount of groundnuts. The leading wheat producers are the USSR and 12 the USA; the biggest rice producers are China and India and the biggest cotton producers are the USSR, the USA and India. The estimated total livestock population in the world is: cattle, over 1,000 million, sheep, over 1,000 million and pigs, more than 500 million.

p The total length of overland transport routes is close to 28 million kilometres, of which 12 million kilometres are surfaced roads, 1.3 million kilometres—railways, and about a million kilometres—main pipelines.

p As regards the length of railways the United States holds first place in the world, but as regards the length of electric railways and the total volume of railway freight turnover, the first place is held by the USSR. The world merchant marine has a net tonnage of more than 200 million.

p Present-day world economy is not uniform. The world socialist economy, which emerged as a result of socialist revolutions in Russia and in a number of European, Asian and Latin American countries, has consolidated its positions. In 1971 the socialist countries yielded 39 per cent of world industrial output as compared with 10 per cent in 1937. In this period the share of the capitalist countries decreased correspondingly.

p The 1969 Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties noted that the socialist world has entered a phase of development in which it is possible to make considerably fuller use of the vast reserves inherent in the new social system which is capable of ensuring planned, crisis-free development of the economy in the interests of the people.

p Depending on which of the two world systems they belong to, individual countries are either socialist or capitalist. At the same time there is an increasing number of countries which have freed themselves of colonialism and are now standing at various levels of economic and political development, and more and more of them are taking the road of non-capitalist development leading to socialism.

Many young national states are living through a period of bitter class struggle, state coups and tribal internecine wars. Taking advantage of the unstable situation prevailing in a number of these states world imperialism is supporting their anti-popular governments in an attempt to foist the neocolonialist order on them and thus continue to plunder them as it has done in the past.

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SOCIALIST COUNTRIES

p The world socialist system embraces 14 sovereign countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. The world’s first socialist country is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) which was established in 1917; the Mongolian People’s Republic was formed in 1921; the People’s Republic of Albania, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, the Hungarian People’s Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, the Polish People’s Republic, the Socialist Republic of Rumania, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were established in the period from 1944 to 1945; the Chinese People’s Republic in 1949 and the Republic of Cuba in 1959.

The socialist countries have vast economic, natural and manpower resources. The potential of the Soviet Union is particularly great.

Area, Population and Industry of Socialist Countries (by mid-1970)" Area Population Industrial output (%) sq. km. % million % All socialist countries 35,200,000 100 1,215 100 100 of which: USSR 22,400,000 63.6 243 19.7 51 Other socialist countries 12,800,000 36.4 962 80.3 49

p Thanks to the advantages of their social system, the socialist countries are developing all branches of the economy at a rapid rate. The example of the socialist countries which are members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA)  [13•*  illustrates this. From 1950 to 1970, the 14 industrial output of the CMEA countries increased more than 7.3 times, while the industrial production of the advanced capitalist countries in this period rose only 2.8 times. The CMEA countries are steadily building up their industrial potential and- strengthening the positions of socialism in world economy.

p Fundamental changes are taking place in the economic structure of the socialist states. Their economy rests on socialist industry which today accounts for 75 per cent of the aggregate output of the entire socialist community.

p On the whole, socialist countries have an advanced industrial base. For example, the CMEA countries comprising 18 per cent of the total land area of the world and 10 per cent of its population produce approximately a third of the world industrial output and over 75 per cent of the industrial output of all socialist countries taken together.

p In the majority of socialist countries agriculture has two forms of socialist property: common (state farms and people’s estates) and collective-farm and co-operative property (collective farms and agricultural producers’ co-operatives). Socialist countries have vast tracts of agricultural land totalling approximately 1,200 million hectares.

p Agricultural production is steadily mounting in socialist countries. All together they account for about 50 per cent of the world grain production, over 40 per cent of the cotton, over 60 per cent of the potatoes and batatas, more than 50 per cent of the sugar beet, 33 per cent of the world output of meat and approximately 40 per cent of the milk.

p Since the establishment of people’s rule there has been a sharp rise in the material welfare and the cultural level of the working people. Great strides have been made in education, health protection, science and culture.

The socialist countries owe their outstanding achievements to their advanced mode of production, new social relations, dedicated labour of the people, mobilisation of internal 15 resources, and also to the expansion of the economic co- operation and mutual assistance between them. The development of all-round co-operation between socialist countries makes for further successes in the building of socialism and communism, in the economic competition with capitalism.

ADVANCED CAPITALIST COUNTRIES

p The economic potential of advanced capitalist states—the USA, the majority of West European countries, Japan, Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia—is also considerable. Though their aggregate area and population is less than a third of the total area and population of all the capitalist countries, they yield over 90 per cent of the output of the entire capitalist manufacturing industry.

p Six major powers, the USA, Japan, the FRG, Britain, France and Italy, occupy leading positions in the capitalist economy. Comprising less than 10 per cent of the territory of the capitalist world, these countries produced 76 per cent of the aggregate industrial output of all capitalist states in 1969.

p The contradictions between the imperialist states are becoming more and more bitter. By the early 1970s, three main centres of imperialist rivalry have finally taken shape: the USA, Western Europe (above all, the six Common Market countries) and Japan. The economic and political struggle between them is growing in intensity.

p State-monopoly capital is steadily increasing its influence in the major imperialist countries, and capitalist states are uniting into military-political blocs.

p The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is imperialism’s chief aggressive bloc spearheaded against the socialist countries. In Western Europe and North America the NATO countries occupy 22 million sq. km. of territory with a population of more than 500 million. With the USA as its nucleus, NATO has a huge military-economic potential. More than 75 per cent of the industrial output of the capitalist world, including the production of nuclear-missile weapons, is concentrated in the NATO countries.

p What in effect are branches of NATO have been set up in other parts of the world. They are the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) in the Middle East; the Southeast Asia 16 Treaty Organisation (SEATO); the Asian Pacific Council (ASPAC). To further their neo-colonialist policy in the Pacific the imperialist countries formed the ANZUS bloc ( Australia, New Zealand and the USA), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also the Organisation of American States (OAS).

p The Soviet Union undeviatingly pursues a policy of extending and developing all-round co-operation, alliance and friendship with the socialist countries. The constructive efforts of the fraternal socialist countries to promote allEuropean co-operation, their concerted actions, principled stand and the firm rebuff they are giving to militant imperialist circles are creating a situation conducive to the relaxation of tensions and the strengthening of security on the continent. Co-operation between the Soviet Union and France is developing successfully. The treaties signed in 1972 between the Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany are fully in keeping with territorial and political realities in Europe and this lays the foundation for the development of good-neighbourly relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

Of considerable international significance are the SovietAmerican agreements signed in May 1972. They constitute an important step forward in Soviet-American relations, strengthen the principle of peaceful coexistence between states with different social systems, and further the cause of peace and security of the peoples.

DEVELOPING STATES

p Developing states are playing an ever greater role in world affairs. Most of them are former colonies or semi-colonies which have only recently become sovereign states. The term “developing” is now applied also to countries that became politically independent a long time ago and are now endeavouring to get rid of their economic and military dependence on the major imperialist powers. Taken together, the developing states occupy about 50 per cent of the land surface of the world and their combined population is approximately half the population of the world. Nevertheless they produce less than 7 per cent of the world’s industrial output.

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p Many young African and Asian states, among them the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Algerian People’s Democratic Republic, Burma and the Republic of Guinea, are developing along the non-capitalist path.

More than 36 million people are living in countries which are still oppressed by imperialism and are fighting for their liberation. The majority of the colonial countries are in South Africa, West and Southeast Asia, Oceania and South and Central America. Their just struggle for emancipation is supported by socialist and democratic forces throughout the world. At its 24th Congress the Communist Party of the Soviet Union reaffirmed its invariable fidelity to the Leninist principle of solidarity with the peoples fighting for national and social emancipation. As before, the fighters against the remaining colonial regimes can depend on support from the USSR.