58

GENERAL FEATURES

p In the west the Soviet Union borders on the socialist countries of Europe. Lying in the central, eastern and southeastern parts of Europe, socialist countries occupy a continuous area extending from the shores of the southern Baltic to the Adriatic Sea, from the Elbe and the Sumavan Hills to the Pruth and the eastern spurs of the Rhodope Mountains. Important international routes linking European, Asian and African countries run across the territory of socialist Europe.

p The socialist countries of Europe took the road of socialist development almost at the same time. Taken together they occupy a relatively small territory (1,300,000 sq. km.), but they have a fairly large population (over 125 million). By carrying through fundamental socio-economic reforms, effectively utilising labour and natural resources and drawing on the selfless assistance of the Soviet Union, the socialist countries of Europe rehabilitated their war-ruined economy and ensured its rapid development.

p From 1950 to 1970 industrial production in Czechoslovakia rose 5 times, in Hungary—5.2 times, in the GDR— 5.4 times, in Poland—7.6 times, in Rumania—11.4 times, in Bulgaria approximately 11.6 times and in Albania—15 times. The growth of industrial production and the development of the economy as a whole enabled the socialist countries considerably to increase their national income and augment their economic potential.

p Today European socialist countries account for 10 per cent of the world industrial output. Economically, the GDR 59 and Poland are approaching the level of the world’s most advanced countries.

p The Soviet Union is rendering the socialist countries of Europe extensive and diversified economic assistance. A total of 630 industrial enterprises and other economic projects are going up or have been completed in the socialist countries of Europe with the technical assistance of the Soviet Union under inter-governmental agreements. The majority of them have already become operational.

p The European socialist countries are situated in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe. Poland, the GDR and Czechoslovakia are in Eastern and Central Europe, and Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania in Southeastern Europe.

p The Polish People’s Republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the German Democratic Republic lie at the intersection of important international routes. The Baltic coast of Poland and the GDR lies close to the straits connecting the Baltic Sea with the North Sea and the world ocean routes. Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic have a common border (almost 1,750 kilometres long) with the Federal Republic of Germany. Possessing a formidable industrial potential and considerable manpower resources, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and Poland are socialism’s bulwark in Central Europe.

p Situated on the greater part of the Balkan Peninsula and the Danube Basin, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania occupy an important geographic position in Southeastern Europe close to the Mediterranean shipping routes and the Black Sea straits. The socialist countries of Southeastern Europe border on Italy, Greece and Turkey.

Because of their advantageous geographic position and natural wealth, the Balkan countries were frequently overrun by foreign invaders. For a long time Southeastern Europe was dominated by the Turks. But the Balkan peoples never ceased to fight against the foreign enslavers and their local henchmen. Twice, once in the Russo-Turkish wars of the 19th century and then in the Second World War, the Russian people rendered the Balkan nations decisive assistance in their fight for liberation.

60

POLISH PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC

p Among the European socialist states Poland comes second in size after the USSR; she accounts for approximately a third of the territory, population and economic potential of East European socialist countries. For volume of industrial output (2 per cent of the world total) Poland is tenth, although for the size of population she ranks nineteenth among the countries of the world.

p Poland is one of the most ancient Slav states of Eastern Europe. In 1966 she marked her 1000th anniversary. The Polish people sustained tremendous losses in the Second World War. Thanks to the decisive role of the Soviet Army in the rout of Hitler’s Germany, the Polish working people were able to defeat and expel the nazi invaders and retrieve Poland’s age-old western territories. The remains of 600,000 Soviet officers and men killed in battle against the nazis are buried in Poland.

p Covering an area of 312,000 kilometres, Poland extends for 650 kilometres from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains, and for 690 kilometres from the Bug to the Oder. She is advantageously situated at the juncture of Eastern and Central Europe along the routes linking the Soviet Union with the GDR, Czechoslovakia and other European states. West-east railway trunk lines and motor roads serve not only Poland but are also of great international economic and strategic importance. With the return of her western lands Poland strengthened her position along water communications. Her Baltic seacoast is seven times longer than it was before the war and now extends for 500 kilometres. The return of Gdansk, Szczecin and other Baltic ports has given Poland an exit to the Atlantic and the World Ocean.

p A temperate climate and a predominantly flat terrain create favourable conditions for all-round economic development. Poland has vast deposits of coal. Her reserves of coal alone, which are chiefly concentrated in the SilesianKrakow Basin, are estimated at 72,600 million tons; there are also huge deposits of virgin sulphur near Tarnobrzeg, copper ore in Lower Silesia and other useful minerals.

p In 25 years of socialist construction Poland has made tremendous progress. Pre-war Poland was a backward 61 agrarian country whose economy was dominated by foreign capital. The war and the nazi occupation which cost her almost 6,000,000 in dead and 40 per cent of the national wealth threw back her economy several dozen years. As a result of socialist development an absolutely new modern economy was built up in the country. This was achieved with the assistance of the fraternal socialist countries and particularly of the Soviet Union, which delivered plant and equipment, raw and other materials.

p The foundation of Poland’s economy is her large-scale and diversified industry. Apart from restoring the coal, light and food industries, Poland created her own machine- building, shipbuilding, power, chemical and other key industries. Today her industries yield over 55 per cent of the national income.

p Engineering has increased its output more than twentyfold since the war, and is now Poland’s key branch of production, accounting for about 29 per cent of the total industrial output. From an importer of machines Poland has turned into an exporter of ships, metal-cutting machinetools, locomotives, mining equipment, and plant for chemical, sugar and other industries.

p There are world-famous shipbuilding yards at Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin where more ocean-going ships are built than in the USA and other large maritime powers. Polish shipyards are building an increasing number of large vessels and are planning to build ships ranging from 95,000 to 120,000 tons each. Poland sells ships to 14 countries.

p Her rapidly developing chemical industry is now producing 23 times as much as it did before the war. Besides manufacturing soda, sulphuric acid and mineral fertiliser, it is producing synthetic rubber, plastics and synthetic fibre. As regards sulphur production (more than 1,300,000 tons a year), Poland is now in fifth place in the world. Growing quantities of oil are being refined at Europe’s biggest Plock Petrochemical Plant capable of processing 5,500,000 tons a year. The bulk of the oil is transported from the Soviet Union by the Druzhba Pipeline, since Poland’s annual oil output is a mere 500,000 tons.

p The Lenin Metallurgical Plant built with Soviet assistance in Nowa Huta near Krakow is a major centre of the Polish metallurgical industry. Poland annually produces 62 seven million tons of pig iron and over 12 million tons of steel. The output of zinc, copper, aluminium and other nonferrous metals is mounting. But in view of the steadily growing demand for non-ferrous and ferrous metals, particularly steel, the Polish metallurgical industry is continuing to develop at a rapid rate.

p There is also a marked growth in the production of fuel and electricity. More than 140 million tons of coal and 33 million tons of lignite are produced annually in the country. The output of coking coals, which stand high on Poland’s export list, is increasing with particular speed.

p The electric and thermal power industry is developing mainly on the basis of coal. Dozens of large thermal power plants have been built since the war. The annual output of electric power in Poland in 1970 was 65,000 million kwh. The capacity of the power industry is being increased as a result of the construction of large thermal power stations and a number of hydroelectric projects on the Vistula and other rivers.

p Poland has always had a textile industry which mainly manufactured cotton fabrics. Today textile mills in Lodz and other towns annually produce up to 800 million square metres of cotton fabrics and large quantities of silk and woollen fabrics. She also has a large leather and footwear industry which annually manufactures over 100 million pairs of shoes and other footwear.

p Thanks to her powerful agricultural base Poland is steadily developing her sugar, flour and other branches of the food industry.

p The industrial potential of Poland is concentrated in the two key industrial regions—Southern (or Silesian-Krakow) and Central (Warsaw-Lodz). Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is her biggest city (1,300,000 inhabitants) and industrial, cultural and scientific centre. Producing 6 per cent of the country’s total industrial output, Warsaw factories manufacture high-grade steel, motor vehicles, semi-conductors, automatic equipment, medicines and many other items. Rebuilt from the ruins after the war modern Warsaw on the Vistula is one of Europe’s loveliest cities. Among the sights of the city are its Stare Miasto (Old City), the new centre with broad streets, parks and gardens, and the Palace of 63 Culture and Science built by the Soviet Union and presented as a gift to Poland.

p In the course of industrialisation industrial enterprises were built in the formerly agrarian eastern regions of Lublin and Bialystok. The industry of Poland’s western regions, which had been reunited with the country, has been rehabilitated and further developed. These territories with a population of approximately nine million yield about 25 per cent of the national income. Thus, industry is being more evenly distributed throughout the country.

p Poland’s rapid industrial development has led to the intensification and rapid growth of agriculture. This in turn has led to a growth in the production of grain (18-19 million tons a year), potatoes (up to 50 million tons), sugar beet (over 15 million tons) and animal products. The gross output of agriculture has surpassed the pre-war 1938 level by 50 per cent.

p The steady increase in agricultural production is connected with the mounting role of the socialist sector in Poland’s agriculture. State farms and co-operatives are yielding growing quantities of grain and animal products. The system of agricultural co-operative circles in the countryside is steadily expanding.

p Economic changes in Poland have altered the population’s social structure. The working class has grown considerably and now numbers six million, with 3,500,000 industrial workers as its backbone.

p The number of the new, people’s intelligentsia is growing, too. Illiteracy has been completely wiped out since the establishment of people’s power. There are approximately 600,000 people with a higher education and 4,500,000 with a secondary education. The population is becoming more technically minded. The standard of living is improving and there is a general cultural upsurge in the country.

Prospects for the further development of the economy, science and culture are set forth in the new five-year plan for 1971-1975. By the end of this period industrial production will have increased by approximately 50 per cent, with industry yielding 60 per cent of the national income. The engineering, metallurgical, chemical and other key branches will continue to develop rapidly. The introduction of scientific and technological achievements, further specialisation 64 and co-operation of production and broad participation in the economic integration of socialist countries will augment the economic might of Poland and of the socialist community as a whole.

GERMAN DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC

p The German Democratic Republic (GDR), is one of the two German states that appeared on the territory of the former German Reich following its defeat in the Second World War. The establishment in 1949 of the GDR was a turning point in the history of the German people and the whole of Europe.

p The historical significance of the GDR is that it inaugurated the socialist era in German history and within a short space of time developed into a reliable bulwark of socialism and peace in Central Europe.

p Though relatively small in area (108,000 sq. km.), the GDR occupies an extremely important geographical position in Central Europe. It has a 1,380-kilometre border with the Federal Republic of Germany.

p The GDR is a highly-advanced industrial state whose industrial potential is the second biggest (after the USSR) among the socialist countries and ninth biggest in the world.

p Being a peace-loving, socialist state, the GDR is winning ever broader recognition and has diplomatic relations with almost 50 countries. It maintains trade relations with more than 100 countries and is a member of approximately 300 international organisations.

p In building up its socialist economy the GDR had to surmount tremendous difficulties. Before the war the territory of present-day GDR was relatively less developed than that of West Germany. Moreover, 50 per cent of the industrial enterprises and 66 per cent of the power capacities were destroyed during the fighting. After the war the GDR was producing only 3 per cent of the coal output of pre-war Germany. The post-war division of Germany into two— Western and Eastern—parts caused great disproportions in industry which had a detrimental effect on the economy of the German Democratic Republic.

p Nevertheless, in the process of socialist construction the 65 GDR overcame all difficulties. Socialist property has become predominant in industry, agriculture and other branches of the economy in which the private sector plays but an insignificant part.

p There has been a considerable growth of social production. The gross output of industry has surpassed the pre-war figure 5.4 times, and that of agriculture more than three times. Today the GDR turns out more manufactured goods than were produced in the whole of Germany within her pre-war frontiers.

p Yielding over 60 per cent of the national income industrial production is the foundation of the GDR economy. Other important components of the country’s economic structure are highly-developed agriculture and transport.

p Power engineering, machine-building and chemical industries are developing at a particularly rapid pace, with the latter two branches and also the textile industry playing an important role in the international socialist division of labour.

p More than 33 per cent of the country’s gross industrial output is produced by the engineering industry. The superb optical equipment, precision instruments, electronic equipment, metal-cutting machine-tools, machines for the printing and publishing industry, sea-going cargo ships and passenger liners have brought world fame to the GDR. It also manufactures motor vehicles, tractors, excavators and other items. The output of the engineering industry heads the GDR export list.

p A key role in the economy is played by the chemical industry now rapidly developing on the basis of considerable local resources of lignite and potassium salts and the mounting deliveries of Soviet oil. The chemical industry of the GDR produces approximately 20 per cent of mineral fertiliser (over 9 million tons), plastics and synthetic fibres made in all the CMEA member-countries taken together, and is augmenting the production of synthetic rubber, varnishes and paints, film, medicines and other chemical items. In the volume of chemical production the GDR holds one of the leading places in the world.

p The German Democratic Republic manufactures a wide range of consumer goods, including hundreds of millions of metres of fabrics, shoes and a large quantity of silk and 66 knitted items. More than 400,000 refrigerators and 300,000 washing machines are produced annually in the republic. TV and radio sets and other durable goods are being mass produced.

p The power base has been considerably strengthened. A system of thermal electric power stations presently under construction will work on lignite whose annual output has reached over 260 million tons. In 1970 the republic’s power stations generated about 67,000 million kwh of electricity. Its first atomic power station built in Rheinsberg near Berlin has started generating electricity. Put up with the assistance of the Soviet Union the station uses locally-extracted uranium. By 1980 a number of atomic power stations with an aggregate capacity of 2,000,000 kw will have been built in the GDR.

p The iron and steel industry was in effect created anew. New plants Ost in Eisenhiittenstadt and West in Kalbe have been built and the production has been expanded at the old enterprises. They smelt two million tons of pig iron and more than five million tons of steel annually. Additional quantities of ferrous and non-ferrous metals are imported from the USSR and other socialist countries.

p Enterprises in the Southern (Saxony-Thuringia) Region account for the bulk of the republic’s industrial output. There are many engineering, chemical and textile plants in Leipzig, Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt and other cities. Rostock, Wismar and Schwerin have developing shipbuilding and fishing industries.

p Berlin  [66•*  (1.1 million inhabitants), capital of the GDR, is a major industrial and cultural centre. It is a seat of the engineering, chemical, light and food industries, and an important junction of railway, highway, air and water communications. Among its numerous educational and scientific institutions mention should be made of the German Academy of Sciences, Art Academy and Humboldt University. There are also famous architectural monuments. Treptow Park is the site of a memorial cemetery where Soviet officers and men killed in 1945 during the storming of Berlin are buried.

p Besides being industrial centres, cities of the German 67 Democratic Republic are also seats of culture and science. Leipzig, where the first number of Lenin’s Iskra had been published, is a major printing and publishing centre; Eisenach is famed for the house where Johann Sebastian Bach, the great German composer was born and for the museum which was established by the German Social-Democratic Party; Erfurt is famed for its architectural monuments; Dresden has its famous picture gallery; Goethe and Schiller lived and worked in Weimar; and Jena is the site of the world-famous Karl Zeiss firm producing high-precision optical instruments.

p The republic’s highly-intensive agriculture in the main meets all the domestic requirements in food. Animal husbandry accounts for the bulk of agricultural produce. Farming is also developed and large harvests of grain, potatoes and sugar-beet are taken in annually.

p As a result of the steady growth of the socialist economy the standard of life is rising with each passing year. The working class (workers with their families comprise approximately 60 per cent of the total population) is the country’s leading social force. Allied with the workers is a new class —the peasants united in co-operative societies. The intelligentsia which has emerged from the midst of the people is playing an ever greater role in the development of science, technology and culture.

The working people of the German Democratic Republic are carrying out the programme of building an advanced socialist social system.

CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC

p Czechoslovakia lies south of the German Democratic Republic and Polish People’s Republic. The nazi occupation deprived the Czechs and Slovaks of their national independence and state sovereignty. Having defeated the nazi invaders and the international reaction with the decisive assistance of the Soviet people the Czechs and Slovaks restored the Czechoslovak state and turned it into a socialist republic. Over 140,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in battles for the liberation of Czechoslovakia.

68

p Thanks to the all-round co-operation with the Soviet Union socialist Czechoslovakia was able to launch economic and cultural development programmes. The Soviet Union almost fully satisfies Czechoslovakia’s import requirements in oil and wheat. It accounts for 80 per cent of imported ore, over 50 per cent of coal, non-ferrous metals, cotton and a considerable quantity of other raw materials and items, including tractors, machine-tools and plant. At the same time the Soviet Union is an extensive sales market for Czechoslovak industrial output and its orders ensure the full- capacity functioning of the Czechoslovak industry.

p Czechoslovakia is inhabited by two Slav peoples, the Czechs and the Slovaks who comprise the bulk of her population. Since 1969 the country is a federation of two socialist republics, the Czech and the Slovak. Prague is the capital of the Czechoslovak socialist federation and the Czech Socialist Republic, and Bratislava is the capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic.

p Like the GDR, Czechoslovakia occupies an important geographic position at the juncture of European socialist and capitalist states. She extends for 770 kilometres in a narrow strip from west to east. The total length of her frontiers is over 3,300 kilometres, of which approximately three- quarters are frontiers with socialist countries.

p The Czechoslovak landscape is very beautiful. The hilly plains of Bohemia give way to the lowlands of Moravia in the east which are gradually taken over by the forest- covered mountains of Slovakia. The greater part of Czechoslovak frontiers lie in the mountains, and the network of railways and highways which run through mountain passes ensures the country’s stable links with the neighbouring countries. The Danube provides Czechoslovakia with an outlet to the Black Sea.

p Though small in area (128,000 sq. km.) and population (over 14 million), Czechoslovakia is a highly-advanced industrial state.

p Exports occupy an important place in the country’s economy. Besides machines and plant which account for about 50 per cent of her exports, other important items on the Czechoslovak export list are textiles, knitwear, shoes and leather articles. The industry and construction yield 75 per cent of the national income. Czechoslovakia manufactures 69 shuttleless automatic looms, spindleless spinning machines and other items whose quality is up to international standards.

p Engineering is the key branch of the economy. The machine-tool, instrument-making, radio and electronics industries are developing rapidly. Rolling-mill equipment, electric and diesel locomotives, motor vehicles, and plant for the light and food industries are produced in increasing quantities.

p Besides producing mineral fertiliser, the chemical industry is expanding the output of plastics and synthetic fibres. Chemical factories in Bratislava and Zaluzi, which turn out dozens of types of petrochemical products, use oil piped from the Soviet Union.

p The metallurgical base is developing in keeping with the requirements of the engineering industry and the economy as a whole. Czechoslovakia annually produces 7.5 million tons of pig iron and approximately 11.5 million tons of steel. The further increase in metal output is connected with the development of the new major East Slovak Plant in the vicinity of Kosice and the expansion of production at the old factories in Ostrava.

p Czechoslovakia is augmenting her fuel and power base and improving her power balance. Besides stepping up the extraction of coal and lignite, the Czechoslovak industry is increasing the consumption of more calorific types of fuel— oil and gas—which are piped from the USSR.

p The output of electricity in socialist Czechoslovakia has risen from 9,000 million kwh in 1960 to more than 45,000 million kwh in 1970. In this period dozens of thermal and hydroelectric stations were built. The republic’s first atomic power station, which is going up with Soviet assistance, will soon be completed. It will have a capacity of 150,000 kw and it is planned to build another atomic station with a capacity of 300,000 kw.

p Enterprises of the traditional Czechoslovak industries manufacturing glass, china and cut-glass ware, which have always had an extensive international market, are being reconstructed and expanded. The production of artistic glass-ware at a new large factory in Novy Bor is being expanded. More than 95 million pairs of shoes are annually manufactured at the Svit and other Czechoslovak shoe 70 factories. The country produces large quantities of granulated sugar, the famous Czech beer and other consumer goods.

p The Bohemian regions where the main capacities of the engineering, textile and glass industries are located are industrially the most developed part of the country. Leading enterprises are concentrated in Prague, Pilsen and other cities in Bohemia.

p Picturesquely sprawling along the hilly banks of the Vltava in the centre of the Bohemian Massif, the capital Prague (over a million inhabitants) is the biggest city of Czechoslovakia. With its Karlov University founded in 1348 and other colleges and research institutes of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, museums and theatres Prague is the country’s main seat of science and culture.

p The Prague Hrad with its St. Vitus Cathedral, the Karlov Bridge ornamented with sculptures, the Old Town Hall and other places of interest are being supplemented by new squares, avenues and buildings. The city’s large factories which employ 10 per cent of the country’s industrial workers manufacture motor vehicles, aircraft, locomotives and ships, about 20 per cent of the total output of the electrical engineering industry and a considerable portion of the output of other engineering branches. Prague is one of Europe’s biggest communications centres.

p Moravia has a fairly large industrial potential. Very important is the Ostrava-Karvina Basin, the country’s principal coal and metallurgical base. Industry is concentrated in Ostrava, Brno and Gottwaldov.

p Thanks to socialist industrialisation Slovakia, once a backward part of the country, now turns out more industrial production than was manufactured by the entire industry of bourgeois Czechoslovakia.

p A major industrial, scientific and cultural centre of the Slovak Republic is its capital Bratislava on the Danube. The city has a large chemical and petrochemical industry, electrical engineering, precision instruments and machine- building factories. It is the seat of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Jan Amos Komensky University and other educational institutions. Bratislava is Czechoslovakia’s biggest river port. Kosice which stands at the foot of the Slovak Rudny Hory (Ore Mountains) is developing at a rapid rate following the construction in its vicinity of a giant 71 metallurgical plant operating mainly on Soviet ore. Slovakia has adequate opportunities for further promoting her industry and raising material and cultural standards.

p Farming and animal husbandry are developed almost throughout Czechoslovakia. The grain yield is 2.5-3 tons per hectare, while the average annual grain (primarily wheat) harvest exceeds 7 million tons. Other crops are sugar beet, potatoes, vegetables and the famous Czechoslovak hops used in brewing.

Thanks to the consolidation of the economy and the life of society as a whole, and the further growth of socialist integration Czechoslovakia has flourishing economy, science and culture.

HUNGARIAN PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC

p The Hungarian people established Soviet power as far back as 1919. But several months later the Hungarian Socialist Republic fell under the blows of the joint counterrevolutionary forces.

p Modern Hungary was established by the Hungarian working people as a result of post-war fundamental socialist changes in all spheres of social life following the liberation of Hungary from nazi occupation by the Soviet Army in 1945. Since then the Hungarian People’s Republic has made great headway in economic, scientific and cultural development.

p The greater part of Hungary lies in the Central Danube (or Hungarian) Lowland surrounded on the north and east by the southern spurs of the Carpathians and on the west by the spurs of the Eastern Alps. Of the worked deposits of useful minerals the most important are the large deposits of bauxites, and oil and gas. A temperate continental climate plus fertile soils favour the development of agriculture.

p Hungary has a ramified system of railways and roads, and shipping on the Danube handles both internal and external freight. Air lines link Budapest, the capital, with the capitals of many other countries.

p Agriculture in the form of large private estates was the principal branch of the economy of bourgeois-landowner 72 Hungary. Her underdeveloped industry was dominated by foreign, chiefly German, capital. The Second World War greatly damaged Hungary’s economy. After the war the Hungarian working people rehabilitated the national economy on a socialist basis.

p Modern Hungary is an advanced industrial-agrarian socialist state. Her industry manufactures a wide range of highquality goods. Socialist agriculture is developing at a fairly high rate.

p The Hungarian People’s Republic is expanding her foreign economic ties and exports a considerable part of her produce. She maintains ties with approximately 130 countries. More than two-thirds of her foreign trade turnover falls to the share of the socialist countries, primarily the Soviet Union.

p Socialist industry, which accounts for over 60 per cent of the national income, is the basis of Hungary’s economy. The structure of her industry is being consistently improved, first and foremost, as a result of the development of the heavy engineering, power engineering and chemical industry.

p In the international socialist division of labour the Hungarian engineering industry specialises in the production of the means of communications, precision instruments, medical instruments and electrical and radio engineering output. Newly built factories are manufacturing lorries, buses, tractors and combines. Ships of diverse types are built at the Danube shipyards.

p The Lenin Metallurgical Plant in Dunauvaros on the Danube is Hungary’s chief iron and steel producer. The reconstructed factories in Miskolc and Ozd are increasing the output of metal. Hungary annually produces about 2 million tons of pig iron and over 3 million tons of steel. Bauxite ore is mined in large quantities but the production of aluminium had been handicapped by a shortage of electricity. Now, under an agreement between Hungary and the USSR a considerable portion of Hungarian alumina is processed in the Soviet Union from where aluminium is shipped back to Hungary.

p Besides producing mineral fertiliser and pesticides, the chemical industry is increasing the output of plastics, chemical fibre and other items. Ranking among the world’s ten leading medicine-producing countries, Hungary is enlarging 73 the output of medicines which stand high on her export list.

p Hungary has coal and lignite and covers her shortage of fuel with imports from the USSR. The Soviet Union supplies her with electric power. The completion of an 800,000 kw atomic electric power station now going up with Soviet assistance will considerably strengthen Hungary’s power base.

p Farming, the principal branch of agriculture, yields approximately 60 per cent of the agricultural output. Highyielding varieties of wheat are the principal crops. The area sown to maize, sugar beet, oil plants, potatoes and vegetables is being enlarged. Viticulture and horticulture are concentrated between the Danube and the Tisza. Dairy cattle, pigs and poultry are raised. The gross agricultural output has surpassed the pre-war level by 50 per cent.

p In people’s Hungary the working class has doubled in size and the peasants are united in co-operatives. A new Hungarian intelligentsia has emerged from the midst of the workers and peasants. The standard of living has risen considerably, real incomes have doubled and there has been a marked rise in cultural standards.

p Hungarians comprise the overwhelming majority of the population; Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, Rumanians and other national minorities make up less than four per cent of the total population. All nationalities enjoy equal rights and are advancing shoulder to shoulder to socialism.

The capital Budapest (about 2 million inhabitants) is Hungary’s political, industrial and scientific centre. Its industrial enterprises employ almost 50 per cent of the total number of workers in the country and turn out more than a half of the country’s industrial output. Railways, motor roads, air lines and the Danube waterway make Budapest one of Europe’s biggest transport hubs. Budapest is a beautiful, excellently laid-out city. Buda, which stands on the lovely elevated right bank, and Pest, which sprawls on the low left bank of the Danube that divides the capital into two parts, the splendid bridges which unite them and the combination of old and modern buildings and green boulevards lend the capital of socialist Hungary a singular beauty.

74

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC
OF RUMANIA

p Inspired by the victories of the Soviet Army over the Hitlerite invaders, the Rumanian people in 1944 overthrew the military fascist dictatorship and ensured their country’s development along the socialist path. The fundamental socio-economic changes effected in Rumania in the 25 postwar years have turned her from a backward agrarian country into an advanced industrial-agrarian state.

p Socialist Rumania lies between the Danube and the Prut, and faces the Black Sea in the east. Geographically Rumania is both a Black Sea and a Danube state. As regards her area (237,500 sq. km.) and population (over 20 million) she is a medium-size European state.

p Rumania’s diversified natural environment is in the main favourable for economic development. The border areas are either lowlands or slightly elevated plains. In the south and southeast lies the extensive Danube Lowland separated from the sea by the arid Dobruja Plateau. The interfluve between the Seret and the Prut is occupied by the Moldavian Highland. The uplands have brown forest soils, and there are highly fertile chernozem soils in the lowlands.

p Almost a third of Rumania is covered by the Carpathian Mountains. In the curve of the Carpathian Arc lie the round-topped West Rumanian Mountains, and between them and the Carpathians spreads the Transylvanian Plateau. Mountain slopes are overgrown with beech and coniferous forests. There are deposits of useful minerals in the mountains and the foothills. Not counting the Soviet Union, Rumania holds first place in Europe for the size of oil deposits. There are considerable deposits of natural gas in Transylvania. Other minerals are also extracted including ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, rock salt and coal.

p Rumania has a modern system of internal and external communications. Railways handle over 80 per cent of the total volume of freight turnover. New roads and main pipelines are being built. The Danube which flows for over 1,000 kilometres through Rumania or along her frontiers connects her with the Danube states and the Black Sea where she has the port of Constanta.

p Rumania has diverse and extensive foreign economic ties. 75 She exports a broad range of oil products, plant for the oil, chemical and oil-refining industries, farm produce, fruits, grapes and wines. Her imports include machinery and plant, iron ore, coke, rolled metal, cotton and consumer goods.

p Large-scale industry and co-operated agriculture comprise Rumania’s socialist economy. Industry, its principal branch, yields about 50 per cent of the national income.

p Rumania’s industry consists of two developed branches— petrochemistry and engineering. Her metallurgical, power engineering, light and food and other industries using local fuel and raw material resources are steadily expanding.

p The petrochemical industry uses the oil (annual production over 13 million tons) of Ploesti and other Carpathian regions. Rumania produces twice as much oil as all other European socialist countries taken together (not counting the Soviet Union). Her petrochemical industry consists of oil refineries, petrochemical factories and specialised chemical enterprises. A prominent place is occupied by the production of mineral fertiliser, chemical fibre, plastics and synthetic rubber. The chemical output has increased more than 40 times since the establishment of people’s rule.

p The engineering industry meets 66 per cent of domestic requirements in machines and plant. The production of equipment for the oil industry, one of the principal branches of the engineering industry, is concentrated in Ploesti and Brasov. Of major importance are machine-building, automobile, tractor, electrical engineering and other branches of the engineering industry and also shipbuilding.

p The annual output of the ferrous metallurgical industry is over four million tons of pig iron and 6.5 million tons of steel. There has been a substantial growth in the output of ferrous metals following the completion of an iron and steel works in Galati on the Danube. Rumania has launched the production of aluminium and is increasing the output of copper, lead and other non-ferrous metals.

p The timber, wood-working and pulp and paper industries which use local resources occupy an important place in the country’s economy. Industries processing agricultural raw materials, such as the sugar, canning, wine-making and flour industries, are also growing.

p The power industry in the main uses mineral fuel and partly the hydroelectric resources of the mountain rivers. 76 The biggest hydropower project is the Lenin Hydroelectric Station on the Bistrifa in the Eastern Carpathians. The construction of a large hydroelectric power project conducted jointly with Yugoslavia is nearing completion in the area of the Iron Gate on the Danube. It will annually give Rumania 5,000 million kwh of electricity. At present 35,000 million kwh of electricity are annually generated by the country’s power stations.

p Industrialisation is the main trend in the economic development of Rumania. In the current five years, from 1971 to 1975, much headway is to be made by the electronic and electric engineering industries, manufacture of machinetools and diverse equipment, and in the production of steel, plastics, mineral fertiliser and chemical fibres. Industrialisation will allow radical changes to be made in all branches of the national economy.

p Socialist agriculture, a major branch of the economy, specialises in crop-farming with emphasis on the production of wheat and maize. The average annual grain harvest is 14 million tons, of which approximately six million tons are wheat. Rumania annually grows over 750,000 tons of grapes, about a million tons of fruits and exports them in large quantities. Productive animal husbandry meets the domestic requirements in meat, milk and butter.

p In the years of industrialisation the Rumanian working class almost doubled in size. Peasants are united in producers’ co-operatives. The people’s intelligentsia is vigorously participating in the development of the economy, science and culture.

p Rumanians make up over 80 per cent of the population and Hungarians about 10 per cent. There are also Germans, Serbs, Bulgarians, Gypsies and the descendants of Russian and Ukrainian settlers. The majority of the Hungarians live in the Mures-Hungarian Autonomous Region.

p The capital Bucharest (over 1,500,000 inhabitants) is Rumania’s largest industrial, cultural and scientific centre with the Academy of Sciences, a university, museums and theatres. Its factories manufacture over a fifth of the country’s gross industrial output.

In the five-year plan period and in subsequent years it is planned to develop and improve the material and technical basis of the republic to a still greater extent.

77

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
OF BULGARIA

p In 1944 the Bulgarian people with decisive assistance on the part of the Soviet Army overthrew the monarchist- fascist dictatorship in the country and established the power of the working people. The revolution was a turning point in the long and eventful history of Bulgaria and ushered in the era of socialist construction in the country. Within a quarter of a century of people’s power Bulgaria did away with her economic backwardness and became a country with an advanced industry, collective agriculture and high cultural standards. People’s Bulgaria occupies her rightful place in the community of socialist countries and in co-operation with them is building an advanced socialist society.

p Occupying the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria extends for 500 kilometres from east to west and 300 kilometres from north to south. Exposed to the north winds the rolling Danube Plain has a more pronounced continental climate than the inner regions of Bulgaria. The climate becomes still more continental as the lowland plains gradually give way to elevated and mountainous regions of the RilaRhodope Massif. On the whole Bulgaria has a moderate continental climate with long and hot summers. Cold winters are rare with the exception of those in the uplands. She has fairly large deposits of copper, lead and zinc ores and rare metals, and also oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore and other useful minerals.

p Facing the Black Sea in the east, Bulgaria has an outlet through the Bosphorus to the Mediterranean and world ocean communications. Railways handle about a half of the total volume of freight and passenger traffic. Motor transport is developing and so is shipping on the Danube.

p People’s Bulgaria is an industrial-agrarian country whose newly-established socialist industry accounts for the greater part of the gross national product.

p In the international socialist division of labour she specialises in the manufacture of electrical engineering production, hoisting and transport equipment and gardening machines. Enjoying favourable soil and climatic conditions and drawing upon the experience of the rural population, Bulgaria has become a major supplier of fresh and preserved 78 tomatoes, grapes, vegetables and fruits. The further development of socialist integration, specialisation and co-operation of Bulgaria and other socialist countries tends to improve the structure and promotes the general upsurge of her economy.

p The engineering industry, whose output includes electric and diesel engines, transformers, storage batteries, metalcutting machine-tools and diverse machinery, is the country’s key industry. More than a score of enterprises that are noted in the Balkankar State Association export thousands of fork trucks (stackers and loaders) to more than 60 countries. At present the production of lorries, automobiles and midget dump-lorries is being organised in the country. The engineering industry meets 60 per cent of the domestic requirements in machines and equipment, the remaining 40 per cent being covered by imports from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

p The recently enlarged Kremikovtsy iron and steel plant built close to the relatively rich iron ore deposit (250 million tons) in the vicinity of Sofia, and other factories annually produce over a million tons of pig iron, up to two million tons of steel and 1.5 million tons of rolled metal. By 1975 its output will rise to 3 million tons. Her non-ferrous industry annually produces 36,000 tons of lead, 75,000 tons of zinc and a large quantity of copper and other metals.

p The chemical industry has developed into an important branch of the economy. Its enterprises include a synthetic rubber factory in Burgas and a nitrogen fertiliser factory in Stara Zagora. Burgas and Pleven are large centres of refining oil piped from the Soviet Union and partly of the oil produced in Bulgaria.

p Situated in the northeast in the vicinity of Varna Bulgaria’s oil fields yield about 500,000 tons of oil a year. Serious attention is paid to the extraction of lignite (about 30,000,000 tons a year). The East Maritsa Basin with its open face workings is developing into the country’s chief coal base. The Maritsa-Vostok fuel and power complex is currently under construction in the area.

p Bulgaria’s power stations generate about 20,000 million kwh of electricity annually, or more than is produced in Turkey and Greece combined. The Soviet Union is assisting in the construction of the 800,000 kw atomic electric power station near Kozlodui on the Danube.

79

p Agriculture is an advanced branch of the economy. Large co-operative and state agricultural farms equipped with modern farming machinery yield the bulk of agricultural produce. In fruitful years Bulgarian farmers take in up to 7 million tons of grain, including 3 million tons of wheat. The principal breadbasket is the Danube Plain. Grapes, fruits and vegetables are grown almost throughout the land. Farms in the Upper Thrakian Lowland and in the Struma and Mesta valleys annually produce 1,500,000 tons of fruits and grapes, approximately the same amount of vegetables and a considerable quantity of first-class tobacco which is high on the Bulgarian export list. Animal husbandry (cattle, sheep and goats) and poultry-farming are developing steadily.

p Bulgarians, whose spoken and written language and culture makes them kindred to the Russian people, comprise the majority of the population. There are national minorities, including Turks, Gypsies and Armenians.

p The victory of socialism wrought fundamental changes in the social structure of the population and did away with the class of the bourgeoisie. Bulgaria’s leading social force is her two-million-strong working class which is building socialism in alliance with the peasants united in co-operatives. The people’s intelligentsia is active in socialist construction.

p Sofia, the capital and the country’s biggest city (about a million inhabitants), is being modernised and enlarged. It is the principal industrial, scientific and cultural centre of Bulgaria. The old and the new are organically combined in the city’s architecture and lay-out. Standing in the city centre is the Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum. There are numerous monuments to the glorious sons of the Bulgarian and Russian people in its squares. Among them the Alexander Nevsky Church, built in the last century in memory of the Russian liberators of Bulgaria, and the monument to Soviet soldiers in Svoboda (Freedom) Park.

The prospects of Bulgaria’s economic and cultural development are contingent on the further improvement of her economic structure and its further intensification through the introduction of the latest scientific and technological achievements.

80

FEDERAL SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

p The establishment of socialist Yugoslavia came as a result of the victory of the Soviet Army over Hitler’s Germany, the heroic national-liberation struggle of the Yugoslav people and the liberation of the Balkans from the fascist invaders.

p The greater part of the country, which has an area of 256,000 sq. km., lies in the Danube Basin. The Danube Hows for almost 600 km. through Yugoslavia which also has a more than 2,000-kilometre-long coastline on the Adriatic Sea. Being both an Adriatic and a Danube state, Yugoslavia occupies an important geographic position along international communication lines. Some of Europe’s major land and air routes meet on her territory.

p Yugoslavia is predominantly a mountainous land with a diversity of natural and climatic conditions and rich natural resources. The northeast of the country is covered by the Middle Danube plains and lowlands which comprise a third of her total area. The rest is occupied by uplands. The climate is favourable for economic development. Great stands of foliage and coniferous forests cover a third of Yugoslavia. Her numerous mountain lakes and rivers have large hydropower resources.

p For her reserves and diversity of useful minerals Yugoslavia is one of the wealthiest European socialist countries (not counting the Soviet Union). Yugoslavia, like Hungary, has great deposits of bauxites. Major copper, lead and zinc, chromium, tungsten, mercury and antimony deposits have been explored in the mountains. Her iron ore, coal, oil and natural gas resources are considerably smaller.

p The majority of the population is made up of Southern Slav nations, including Serbs (over 8,000,000), Croats (about 4,500,000), Slovenes (approximately 2 million), Macedonians (over a million), Bosnians and Montenegrins. Taken together they comprise about 90 per cent of the total population. The remainder consists of national minorities: Albanians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Russians, Ukrainians, Rumanians and Italians, who mainly live in the border areas. With the exception of Macedonia and Slovenia, Serbo-Croat is the principal language of the state.

p Multinational Yugoslavia is a federal socialist republic 81 consisting of six equal republics: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Included in the Serbian republic are two autonomous territories Vojvodina, inhabited by Hungarians, and Kosovo inhabited by Albanians.

p Belgrade, one of the biggest industrial and transport centres of Yugoslavia and the Balkans, is simultaneously the capital of Yugoslavia and Serbia. Modern Belgrade (over a million inhabitants) is one of the most beautiful cities on the Danube.

p Since the establishment of people’s rule Yugoslavia has developed from a European backwaters into an industrialagrarian country. Her industry yields over 50 per cent, and agriculture approximately 30 per cent of the national income.

p In recent years engineering has become the key branch of industry. Yugoslavia, which before the war had no automobile industry, now annually manufactures over 120,000 automobiles and lorries. Her tractor factories annually produce over 12,000 machines. The shipbuilding industry is expanding, and so are the electrical engineering, radio, electronic and other branches of the engineering industry.

p The oil output has almost reached 3,000,000 tons. Hydroelectric stations on mountain rivers generate the bulk of the country’s electricity, whose total output is more than 26,000 million kwh.

p The mining and non-ferrous industries have been built up virtually from scratch. Factories built in Zenica (near Sarajevo), Susak and other towns annually produce over a million tons of pig iron and about two million tons of steel. The production of copper (70,000 tons a year), zinc (about 80,000 tons), lead (over 90,000 tons), aluminium ( approximately 50,000 tons) and other metals is increasing.

p The chemical industry is moving into a key position in the country’s industrial complex. Yugoslavia annually manufactures about two million tons of mineral fertiliser, more than 37,000 tons of chemical fibres, plastics, and has increased the production of other items. Oil processing has been organised in port towns.

p The timber, woodworking and pulp and paper industries are located in the forest-rich areas of Slovenia, Bosnia and 82 Hercegovina, and Croatia. Furniture and other articles are major items of export.

p Yugoslavia’s agriculture is lagging behind the mounting requirements in food and agricultural raw materials. The bulk of agricultural output is produced by the private sector. The socialist sector is represented by agricultural complexes, state agricultural estates and also by a small number of agricultural co-operatives.

p The main trend in farming is the cultivation of wheat (annual harvest 4-5 million tons) and maize (7-8 million tons). The principal industrial crops are sugar beet (3-4 million tons a year), hemp and sunflower, and tobacco (over 50,000 tons). Fruit and grape-growing is widely practised in Serbia and Croatia.

The further deepening and extension of Yugoslavia’s economic ties with the countries of the socialist community is an earnest of her successful development in the future.

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
OF ALBANIA

p Albania is a small European socialist state in the Balkan Peninsula; area—29,000 sq. km.; population—2,000,000. Her western coast is washed by the Adriatic Sea, and the Strait of Otranto separates her from Italy. Albania occupies a particularly important position in the Mediterranean Basin in view of the fact that her borders with Yugoslavia and Greece pass mainly along mountains which have no railways crossing them.

p Virtually isolated from other European countries, prewar Albania was one of Europe’s most backward border areas. For a long period of time she was dominated by the Turks and in the Second World War was overrun by fascist invaders. She was liberated in 1944 following the expulsion of fascist forces from her territory.

p Agriculture, which yields 40 per cent of the national income, is an important branch of the economy. Wheat, maize, vegetables, legumes, sugar beet and tobacco are cultivated in relatively small quantities. She has numerous orchards and vineyards and cultivates citruses and olives. The principal trend in animal husbandry is sheep and goat-breeding.

83

p In the course of Albania’s industrial development a sizeable mining industry has been built. She produces oil (about a million tons annually), and also bitumen, coal, and chromium and nickel ores. The light and food industries account for over 60 per cent of the gross industrial output.

The capital Tirana is the centre of industry. A railway built after the Second World War connects Tirana with the port of Durres on the Adriatic through which Albania maintains her links with other countries.