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[1]Translated from the Russian by David Fidlon
Designed by V. Levinson
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__COPYRIGHT__ First printing 1972Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
[2] CONTENTS The World Today................. 7 Continents and Oceans................ 18 States of the World: Population and the Economy..... 28 Socialist Countries................ 28 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics......... 28 Socialist Countries of Europe............ 58 Socialist Countries of Asia............ 83 Republic of Cuba................ 93 Capitalist Countries................ 97 United States of America............. 99 West European Capitalist Countries......... 106 Japan................... 130 Canada................... 134 Commonwealth of Australia........... 137 Republic of South Africa and Israel........ 138 Developing Countries................ 142 Latin American Countries............. 147 Southeast and South Asia............. 157 West Asia and North Africa........... 165 Central and South Africa............. 182 [3] ~ [4]Ours is a beautiful planet. ... Its continents differ in colour.... On several occasions as I admired its ocean expanses from outer space I saw liners making their way from continent to continent....
Colourful is the panorama of the nightshrouded Earth. Large cities with their myriads of coloured lights shining in the dense darkness are an impressive sight....
Cosmonaut Georgi Beregovoi
In the world today there are over a hundred and fifty big and small states with diverse climatic and physical features, histories, political and economic systems, mode of life and structure of population, customs and culture.
The Earth today is different from the Earth of yesterday, and tomorrow it will be different from what it is today. People are interested in everything that takes place in any corner of the world. It cannot be otherwise, for in our age of social and scientific and technological revolutions the world is changing so rapidly that people are bound to take an interest in conditions obtaining throughout the world.
This book offers the reader the most general information about the states of the world and a survey of its political and economic map.
[5] ~ [6] __ALPHA_LVL1__ THE WORLD TODAYMuch 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.
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.''
As epochs succeeded one another the map of the world changed mirroring the rise or disappearance of states.
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".
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 7 the Mongolian People's Republic took the road leading to a new life.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The table below shows how the world has changed since the first years following the October Socialist Revolution in Russia.
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.
8 Countries 1919 1969 Area Population Area Population sq. km. (mln) % (rain) % sq. km. (mlns) % (mln) % 1. The world 135.8^^*^^ 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^^**^^ 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 45.9The political division of the modern world is a very complicated one.
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.
States are either bourgeois or socialist depending on their social system.
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.
The overwhelming majority of bourgeois states are _-_-_
^^*^^ Not counting Antarctica. = __NOTE__ These footnotes are in TABLE !
^^**^^ The USA, Britain, France, the FRG (Germany in 1919), Japan and Italy.
9 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.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.
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.
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.
__b_b_b__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.
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.
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.
10The 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The USA and the USSR, the two greatest industrial countries, account for about 50 per cent of the world's industrial output.
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 11 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
12The 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 49Thanks 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)^^*^^ illustrates this. From 1950 to 1970, the _-_-_
^^*^^ The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), an international economic organisation of socialist countries, was established in 1949; its members are Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic __NOTE__ Footnote cont. on page 14. 13 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 _-_-_ __NOTE__ Footnote cont. from page 13. Republic, Mongolian People's Republic, Poland, Rumania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. Since 1964 Yugoslavia has been taking part in a number of CMEA bodies. According to its Charter CMEA was set up for promoting by means of aligning and co-ordinating the efforts of its members the planned development of their economies, accelerating economic and technological progress, enhancing the level of their industrialisation and ensuring a steady rise in labour productivity and living standards.
14 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.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.
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.
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.
State-monopoly capital is steadily increasing its influence in the major imperialist countries, and capitalist states are uniting into military-political blocs.
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.
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 15 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).
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 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.
16Many 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.
[17] __ALPHA_LVL1__ CONTINENTS AND OCEANSThe surface of the Earth consists of continents and oceans. Though oceans are coming to play a bigger role in the life of humanity, it is the land that is the natural foundation for the existence of nations and states.
Area, Population and States in Different Parts of the World (by mid-1971) Parts of the world Area (sq. km.) Population (mln) Stati s and territories Europe Asia 10,500,000 44,400,000 650 2,160 37 42 Africa 30,300,000 353 56 America 42,100,000 522 47 Australia and Oceania 8,500,000 20 24 135.800,000 3,705 206Though one of the smallest in area Europe is one of the most heavily populated parts of the world. For density of population---over 60 people per sq. km.---Europe holds first place in the world, and second, after Asia, for the size of the population.
Having less than a fifth of the total world population, Europe accounts for over 50 per cent of the world industrial output.
18More than 50 per cent of the Europeans are townspeople. Europe has many large cities of which more than 30, including London, Moscow, Leningrad, Paris have millions of inhabitants. European cities are major industrial centres where the working class is concentrated. The proletariat in the countries of capitalist Europe alone totals 105 million people. There are more than 30 states, some of them extremely small, on the political map of Europe. Their socio-political systems are not alike. More than 60 per cent of the territory of Europe is occupied by the socialist countries of Central, East and Southeast Europe and the European part of the USSR. They account for more than 50 per cent of the continent's population and yield over a half of Europe's industrial output. Socialist Europe is one of the most advanced and important industrial zones in the world. For rates of development, structural changes in the economy and the level of industrial production the European socialist countries are far ahead of many advanced capitalist countries.
Western Europe yields about a third of the industrial output produced in the capitalist world and possesses a considerable portion of imperialism's military potential. The CMEA countries form the core of socialist Europe and the entire world socialist system.
Economically developed small countries account for less than a quarter of the territory and population of Western Europe, but manufacture over a quarter of its industrial production, or approximately as much as is produced in Britain. As regards some economic indicators, for example, the production of machine tools per head of population, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland have either surpassed Britain or have almost caught up with other major West European states. On the whole, however, it is the Federal Republic of Germany, Britain and other West European powers that comprise the second biggest "power centre" of imperialism after the United States.
Two inter-state monopoly alliances, the European Economic Community or the Common Market, and the European Free Trade Area were established in Western Europe after the Second World War.
The six Common Market countries---the FRG, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg---account tor 60 per cent of Western Europe's industrial output.
19The European Free Trade Area, an association uniting Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Portugal, Switzerland and Austria, with Britain playing the central role, is considerably weaker than the Common Market monopoly alliance. In effect it is disintegrating as Great Britain and some of its other members are about to enter the Common Market.
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Concerned with the future of the nations, the socialist countries are advocating the establishment of a reliable European security system. The member countries of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance have long ago proposed a non-aggression pact with NATO. The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties held in Moscow in 1969 underlined the vital importance of establishing a reliable security system in that part of the world. This policy of promoting peaceful co-operation, strengthening security in Europe and in the world has the mounting support of all progressive forces and broad masses of people.
More than 2,000 million people, or just under two-thirds of the world population, live in the vast expanses of Asia which covers almost a third of the earth's land surface. The bulk of the world's rural population is concentrated in the countries of East, Southeast and South Asia. About a fifth of the population of Asia live in towns. Although the percentage of the urban population is relatively small, some Asian countries have very large cities, the biggest of which are Tokyo (10 million inhabitants), Shanghai, Bombay and Peking, each with a population of several million. The populations of Tashkent and Novosibirsk in the Asian part of the USSR have also surpassed the million mark.
There are over 30 states in Asia, and, as in Europe, they belong either to the capitalist or the socialist world system.
Besides the Soviet Union, which occupies over 60 per cent of its territory, socialist Asia includes the Mongolian People's Republic, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Korean People's Democratic Republic and the Chinese People's Republic.
20The formation of a group of socialist states was a most important factor that changed the political map of Asia.
Another significant development has been the rise of newly-free states in Asia in place of the former colonies. Today they occupy a vast part of the continent and their total population is almost as large as the population of the socialist countries of Asia.
Asia's role in world affairs is rapidly mounting thanks to her peoples' progress along the road of national liberation, social and economic development. Developing Asian states are making serious efforts to surmount the economic and cultural backwardness inherited from colonialism, raise living standards and solve other crucial problems. As in the past the Soviet Union wants to have the best possible relations with the Asian states. "Our aim,'' said L. I. Brezhnev, "is to contribute to the strengthening of peace in Asia, to help progressive forces in Asia in their struggle against imperialism and all variants of colonialism".
Africa is almost three times as large as Europe but its population is approximately 50 per cent smaller. Yet before the appearance of the colonialists in Africa its population was even bigger than that of Europe.
Starting their conquest of Africa in the beginning of the 16th century the colonialists turned it into what Marx called "a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins''. Of the approximately 100 million Africans who suffered at the hands of the slavers 20 million were shipped to America. Slave trade, colonial wars and the subjugation of the continent were accompanied by the extermination of the Africans that went on for several centuries and greatly reduced their numbers. Inhuman exploitation of the African peoples and downright plunder of the continent's natural wealth brought fantastic profits to the colonialists.
Until recently Africa was an important source of capital accumulation for the colonialists, a reliable economic hinterland, a strategic bridgehead and a politically "dormant continent''. The victorious advance of socialism, which had transcended the bounds of the Soviet Union, awakened the 21 consciousness of the African nations and ushered in the era of their liberation. Since the Second World War the national liberation movement of the African peoples has come to embrace all African countries and undermined the positions of colonialism and imperialism on the continent. As a result, the political map of Africa has changed beyond recognition.
Before the Second World War only Egypt, Ethiopia and Liberia were considered to be politically independent African states, although in effect their independence was purely nominal. More than 40 national states have appeared in Africa since the end of the Second World War. By 1971, they had over 300 million inhabitants (90 per cent of the continent's total population) and occupied an area of more than 25 million sq. km., or about 85 per cent of the territory of Africa. And the day of the political emancipation of the remaining African states is not far off.
Those African countries that have achieved political independence are now facing the difficult task of creating a national economy and raising cultural standards. The national development of the newly-free countries is seriously impeded by their underdeveloped industry, the primitive agriculture of the native population and its poverty and almost total illiteracy, and the absence of trained national personnel. But their peoples are fighting with increasing determination for a better future.
There are about 30 states and a large number of colonies on America's political map, which had remained almost unchanged for a long period. The victory of the revolution in Cuba, which became the first socialist country in America, wrought the first fundamental change in the political map of the Western Hemisphere. Chile was the next Latin American state to light the flame of freedom.
The fight of the people for freedom and independence is mounting on the Latin American continent.
Jamaica, an island in the Caribbean Sea, achieved independence in 1962 after three centuries of British domination. Shortly afterwards Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana also became independent. The peoples of British Honduras and French Guiana and other colonies still under 22 the domination of imperialist countries are fighting for independence and national emancipation. That part of the world is turning into a giant centre of the anti-imperialist revolution.
Imperialism's undivided rule in the Western Hemisphere has come to an end.
Australia with Oceania comprises the smallest part of the world. It is smaller than Europe and its population is but three per cent of the population of that continent. Australia was colonised by Europeans who discovered it in the beginning of the 16th century.
The biggest country in this part of the world is the Commonwealth of Australia, a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations and an economically developed capitalist state. The Commonwealth of Australia possesses a number of island colonies and holds trusteeship rights over the northeastern part of New Guinea.
New Zealand, likewise an advanced capitalist state, also has colonies in the Pacific Ocean including the Cook and Tokelau islands.
The population of the Pacific islands is struggling to abolish the colonial regime. In 1962 West Samoa became the first independent state in Oceania. In 1968 Nauru became independent and in 1970 Fiji.
Antarctica is the only continent which has no permanent population. This icy continent was discovered during the Antarctic summer of 1819--20 by the first Russian Antarctic Expedition headed by Faddei Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev.
Today the map of the Antarctica is dotted with dozens of scientific stations operated by many countries. In 1959 twelve countries, including the Soviet Union and the United States, signed an agreement on the peaceful use of the Antarctica.
A very important part in the study of the icy continent is being played by Soviet scientists who are taking part in 23 complex antarctic expeditions. Scientific investigations of the Antarctica, which systematically augment the available information about the continent, are of tremendous practical importance.
Oceans and seas comprise the World Ocean which covers more than three-fifths of the Northern Hemisphere and about four-fifths of the Southern Hemisphere.
The World Ocean is a vast storehouse of diverse natural resources. In our day the opportunities of tapping them are rapidly increasing. Man is inventing more and more methods of the economic exploitation of its biological, mineral and chemical resources.
The biological resources of the World Ocean are estimated at the colossal figure of 16,000--18,000 million tons, of which fish alone account for approximately 500 million tons. The food resources of the ocean amount to 400,000 million tons a year or four times the amount available on land. Yet, so far less than one-seventh of the total area of oceans and seas is used as fishing grounds.
What is known to date of the mineral resources of the World Ocean staggers the imagination. The bed of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans contains from 300,000 to 350,000 million tons of iron and manganese concretions which also contain copper, nickel, cobalt, uranium and other elements. The oil deposits in the bed of the World Ocean are estimated at 150,000 million tons. The amount of sodium chloride, magnesium, bromine, potassium, iodine and other chemical elements in sea water is estimated in astronomical figures. A thousand million kilowatts, such is the capacity of the power resources of ocean tides. Economic development of the world, particularly in the future, will to an ever greater degree be connected with the exploitation of the ocean's inexhaustible natural resources.
The World Ocean plays an extremely important role in world transport and economy. On its shores there are 1,600 large and 5,500 small ports connected with each other by coastal and international shipping routes.
An overwhelming majority of states of the world lie on the shores of seas and oceans. The Soviet Union, a great sea 24 power, is washed by the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Seaboard socialist countries are enlarging their merchant and fishing fleets and expanding shipping, fishing and sea-animal hunting in the World Ocean.
Ocean shipping and fishing are acquiring vital importance for the young Asian, African and Latin American states lying on the shores of the warm seas of the World Ocean. India, Egypt, Pakistan and other countries are building up their national merchant marine, reconstructing old and building new ports and developing navigation.
As regards its area and the size of the population gravitating towards its basin the Atlantic Ocean ranks second after the Pacific Ocean. But for the number of maritime countries and their economic potential, the number of shipping and air routes the Atlantic surpasses all other oceans.
Just under 70 states with a total population of 1,300 million lie on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and its seas. About two-thirds of the world's biggest ports are situated on the shores of the Atlantic. The states of this ocean basin account for more than 50 per cent of the tonnage of the world merchant marine, over 75 per cent of the world shipping and the most intense air communications, particularly transatlantic routes between Western Europe and North America.
The entire eastern and southern coastline of the Baltic Sea (Atlantic basin) from Leningrad in the USSR to Wismar in the German Democratic Republic is shared by the Soviet Union, Poland and the German Democratic Republic. The greater part of the Black Sea coast lies within the USSR, Rumania and Bulgaria. Yugoslavia and Albania are situated along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. The Republic of Cuba lies in the Caribbean basin.
With the exception of Japan, all major capitalist countries are situated in the Atlantic basin where the main economic potential of the capitalist world is concentrated. Some of the world's biggest ports including New York and Boston in the United States and London, Hamburg, Marseilles and 25 Genoa in Western Europe are situated on the shores of the Atlantic. Atlantic shipping routes handle more than 50 per cent of the world's seaborne trade.
The Pacific is the largest of the earth's oceans, both in area, volume of water, the number of islands, and the size of the population of its seaboard countries. More than 1,600 million people, or almost 50 per cent of the world population, live in the countries of the Pacific basin. For this part of humanity the vast resources of the Pacific Ocean are becoming of vital importance. The Pacific is also the world's biggest source of fish and sea animals. As regards the density of shipping it is second only to the Atlantic.
About thirty countries lie on the Pacific. The USSR, the Chinese People's Republic, the Korean People's Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam have long Pacific coastlines. The Soviet Union alone has about 18,000 kilometres of mainland and approximately 9,000 kilometres of island coastline on the Pacific.
Vladivostok and Nakhodka, in the Soviet Union, Wonsan in the Korean People's Democratic Republic, Tientsin, Shanghai and Kwangchow in China and Haiphong in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam are the socialist countries' biggest Pacific ports.
Of the imperialist countries the biggest power on the Pacific just as it is on the Atlantic is the United States. After the United States Japan has the second largest economic potential on the Pacific.
In area, density of shipping routes and size of the fish catch, the Indian Ocean is no match for the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. There are 25 states along the mainland coast and on the islands of the Indian Ocean with a total population of approximately 1,000 million.
Just recently Great Britain dominated the basin of the Indian Ocean, and today too she controls the extraction of oil in Bahrain and in some other parts of Arabia. The British also own rubber plantations and tin mines in Malaysia.
26But the successes of the national liberation movement have considerably undermined Britain's positions in the Indian Ocean countries. In an effort to retain them Britain and the United States are establishing a system of new military bases on the thinly populated islands of the Indian Ocean.
Since the Second World War the states of the world have been focussing their attention on the Arctic Ocean. The Soviet Union occupies one side of its basin with the USA, Canada, Iceland, Norway and Greenland, an island belonging to Denmark, on the other. Sea and air communications between the USSR and the USA across the Arctic Ocean are much shorter than those across the Atlantic and the Pacific.
The Soviet Union holds sovereign rights over 28,000 kilometres of mainland and approximately 35,000 kilometres of insular shoreline in the Arctic. The Barents, White and other seas of the Arctic Ocean and also the North Atlantic Ocean are major areas of the Soviet fishing industry whose principal base is the unfreezing port of Murmansk. From Murmansk begins the North Sea route that makes possible the economic development of the vast Soviet Arctic region.
__b_b_b__Thus, the political and economic map of the world is extremely complex and diverse, and without a profound knowledge of the subject it is impossible to obtain a more or less complete idea of the modern world and its states.
[27] __ALPHA_LVL1__ STATES OF THE WORLD:Socialist countries are the vanguard of the world revolutionary and progressive forces. Ever since it asserted itself in countries with almost a third of the world population, socialism has made tremendous headway.
All countries making up the socialist system are equal, each contributing to the cause of socialist and communist construction, to human progress.
We have already said that the first country to take the socialist road was the Soviet Union, the biggest and the most powerful socialist nation which is now building communist society.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ UNION OF SOVIETSoviet Russia, in the words of the French writer Anatole France, is a land where even the impossible comes true. The world knows about the feats of labour and arms of the Soviet people. Overcoming tremendous difficulties and beating off foreign invaders, the Soviet people in a short historical period transformed their land from an economically backward country into an advanced and mighty socialist power and built a developed socialist society. The USSR, whose population comprises less than seven per cent of the world population, yields almost 20 per cent of the world industrial output, and has more than 50 per cent of 28 the industrial potential of the world socialist system of economy.
The establishment of a highly developed socialist economy was the result of the Soviet people's efforts to fulfil the fiveyear economic development plans. The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966--1970) played an important role in strengthening the Soviet Union's economic potential. The current, Ninth Five-Year Plan (1971--1975) will take the Soviet society further along the road to communism and augment the might of the USSR and the world socialist community as a whole to a still greater extent.
Consistently strengthening its international positions, the Soviet Union has diplomatic relations with more than a hundred states on all continents, and is a member of almost 400 regional, specialised and other international organisations working in the interests of world co-operation of nations.
The Soviet Union has equal and mutually advantageous trade relations with the majority of countries. It is one of the world's biggest exporters of machinery and plant.
Particularly extensive and diversified are its economic ties with the socialist countries, which account for approximately 70 per cent of its foreign trade turnover. The Soviet Union largely satisfies the import requirements of the CMEA countries in oil, coal, iron ore, timber, machinery and plant.
Since the war the Soviet Union has rendered technical assistance to socialist countries in building, reconstructing and enlarging about 900 industrial enterprises and other projects ensuring the growth of industrial output in these countries.
At the same time the Soviet Union's economic and scientific and technological ties with socialist countries help it fulfil its national economic plans.
The Soviet Union is increasing the scope of its co-- operation with the developing countries. It is assisting the liberated peoples of India, Egypt and many other countries to attain economic independence and promote social progress. It is also fruitfully co-operating with many industrial capitalist states.
The Soviet Union, the world's biggest country, has an area of 22.4 million sq. km. From west to east it extends for 29 approximately 10,000 kilometres and from north to south, about 5,000 kilometres. It has eleven time zones. When night descends on the Baltic, a new day dawns on the Pacific coast in Primorye Territory and the Far East.
Lying almost wholly on vast tract of land, the Soviet Union also has islands, for the most part lying in the basins of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, and which comprise a relatively small part of its territory.
The geographic position of the Soviet Union makes it a European and Asian country. Stressing this fact Lenin said that geographically, economically and historically it is not only part of Europe, but also a part of Asia. About a quarter of its territory (5.6 million sq. km.) is in Europe, and approximately three-quarters (16.8 million sq. km.) in Asia.
It has more than 100,000 rivers including some of the world's longest, among them the Ob, Amur, Irtysh, Lena, Yenisei and the Volga. The Volga, the great Russian river is the country's principal internal waterway.
It has about 250,000 lakes, including the Caspian Sea, which is the world's biggest lake, and Lake Baikal, the world's deepest freshwater lake (greatest depth, 1,741 metres).
The drainage system is supplemented by man-made storage lakes. All told there are about a score of large artificial reservoirs including the Irkutsk, Kuibyshev, Bratsk, Rybinsk, Volgograd, Tsimlyanskaya, Kakhovka and Krasnoyarsk storage lakes whose waters are confined by the dams of giant hydroelectric stations.
The USSR has more subterranean waters than any other country. The West Siberian Artesian Basin is the world's largest subsurface ocean. Spreading over an area ol 3,000,000 sq. km. it is bigger than the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk combined.
The USSR is surrounded by 12 seas^^*^^ of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans. The total length of the Soviet coastline exceeds 108,000 kilometres, with numerous bays and gulfs suitable for anchorage.
There are vast natural resources in the Soviet Union. _-_-_
^^*^^ Not counting the Caspian and the Aral seas which arc closed drainage reservoirs.
30 Since the establishment of Soviet power geologists have discovered over 15,000 deposits of useful minerals. The country has the world's greatest reserves of coal (up to 9,000,000 million tons), iron (60,000 million tons), manganese (2,500 million tons), lead, nickel, molybdenum, mercury, antimony, asbestos and potassium salts. It also has enormous deposits of oil and gas. The USSR is the only country in the world which is self-sufficient in mineral raw materials.The potential hydropower resources of the Soviet Union exceed 11 per cent of the world total and are estimated at 2,100,000 million kwh a year. For the size of hydropower resources the USSR occupies first place in the world. Soviet rivers and lakes abound in fish.
The world's greatest black earth (chernozem) massif lies in the Soviet Union. With the chestnut and grey forest soils, the highly fertile chernozem soils form the basis of the country's agricultural land fund. Given advanced farming methods podzolic soils yield good harvests.
Forests occupy almost a third of the total territory of the country whose overall timber resources are estimated at over 80,000 million cu. m. In other words, on an average there are 3.5 hectares of forest land and more than 370 cu. m. of timber per head of population. Conifers---larch, pine and fir---make up over four-fifths of the timber reserves. The forests are inhabited by valuable fur-bearing animals.
At the beginning of 1972 the population of the USSR was more than 246 million, which puts it in third place after China and India. Estimated losses of population in the Second World War were over 20 million. In the post-war years of 1950 to 1971 the population of the USSR increased by almost 68 million.
The population is unevenly distributed. The average density is about 11 persons per sq. km., in the European part it is 30 per sq. km. and three and even less persons per sq. km. in the Asian part. In the industrial Moscow Region, including Moscow itself, the density of the population is about 278 persons per sq. km.
In view of the continuing industrialisation the ratio between the size of the rural and urban population is changing in favour of the latter. By mid-1971 more than 140 million people, or 57 per cent of the total population, were living in 31 towns. The urban population is growing at a particularly rapid rate in the far north and eastern regions.
There are over 5,500 urban-type townships, including 2,000 cities in the country; more than 220 are large cities with a population of over 100,000 each. About 7.2 million people live in Moscow. Other cities with over a million inhabitants are Leningrad, Kiev, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, Gorky, Novosibirsk, Kuibyshev, Minsk and Sverdlovsk. Almost as many people live in Odessa, Tbilisi, Donetsk, Chelyabinsk, Kazan and Dniepropetrovsk.
Nearly 104 million people live in 700,000 villages.
In 1970 there were 62 million workers. The steady growth of their numbers reflects the country's rapid industrial development and manifests the further strengthening of the leading role of the working class.
Collective farmers, craftsmen united in co-operatives and their families account for approximately 20 per cent of the total population, less than 17 million people being directly engaged on collective farms.
The number of intellectual workers employed in the economy now exceeds 30 million. Occupations involving manual labour have disappeared, and the distinctions between manual and mental labour are being gradually erased.
Socialism has immeasurably elevated and enriched the cultural level of Soviet society. A country where threequarters of the population could neither read nor write before the Revolution, is now a land of total literacy. By the beginning of 1971, as a result of the progress in public education more than three quarters of the total population had a secondary (complete or incomplete) and higher education in towns and over a half in rural areas. There are nine million students at institutions of higher learning and vocational schools. Particular attention is paid to training engineers in all fields.
The Soviet Union has scored outstanding successes in diverse fields of science and technology. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR, its branches and republican academies, numerous research institutes and university departments have a staff of approximately a million research workers, or a quarter of the world's total. The USSR holds leading positions in nuclear physics, mathematics, electronics, 32 radio engineering, metallurgy, rocketry, aircraft construction and a number of other branches of science and technology. Its successes in the exploration of outer space witness the inexhaustible creative abilities of Soviet scientists and designers and the skill and ability of Soviet working people.
The national income is the main factor of the rising welfare of the people. In 1970, the national income in the USSR exceeded 266,000 million rubles, and in 1975 it will be approximately 365,000--373,000 million rubles. About 75 per cent of the national income goes to meet the material and cultural requirements of the population. The real incomes of the Soviet people are steadily mounting and so are the various grants and benefits made available to the population out of public consumption funds.
The public consumption funds, which in 1970 totalled 64,000 million rubles will amount to 90,000 million rubles in 1975, and will further raise the standard of living. These funds are expended on providing free education and medical treatment to the entire population, stipends for students, paid holidays, sanatoria vouchers, grants, pensions and various other allowances and benefits.
One of the greatest social gains of the Soviet Union has been the complete abolition of unemployment.
Housing conditions have been rapidly improving since the war. The Soviet Union is tackling the housing problem on a huge scale. More than 500 million sq. m. of floor space were built during the eighth five-year plan period (1966--1970) alone. This means that an equivalent of more than 50 large cities, each with a million inhabitants, were built in the country. Most of the families receiving new housing move into separate modern apartments.
It is the prime concern of socialist society to secure a steady rise in the standard of living.
About 130 big and small nations inhabit the USSR, including Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians, which together make up more than three-quarters of the population, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Georgians, Azerbaijanians, Lithuanians, Moldavians, Kirghizes, Tajiks, Armenians, Turkmenians, and Estonians. All citizens of the USSR, irrespective of their nationality or race are equal in all spheres of political, economic and cultural activity.
The socialist system has ensured the burgeoning of all __PRINTERS_P_33_COMMENT__ 3---999 33 nations inhabiting the country, including the formerly backward peoples, and economically and culturally fused the socialist nations into a fraternal family of Soviet peoples. The Soviet Union showed in practice that socialism alone guarantees the abolition of all forms of national oppression and promotes the burgeoning of all nations and of their commonwealth. The Soviet state is the embodiment of the commonwealth of nations.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a multinational federal state, formed on the basis of a union of equal Soviet socialist republics. Being a state of a new, socialist type the USSR was established on the basis of the free and voluntary union of the people of 15 socialist republics.
The highest organ of state power is the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It consists of two chambers: the Soviet of the Union, which represents the common interests of all people irrespective of their nationality, and the Soviet of Nationalities, which expresses the interests of each individual nation and nationality. The highest executive and administrative organ of state power is the Council of Ministers of the USSR which is the country's government. According to the Constitution the Communist Party of the Soviet Union which has a membership of 14 million is the leading core of all organisations of the working people, both government and nongovernment.
In the Union Republics separate nationalities have their autonomous republics, regions and areas. All have their organs of state power which guide the national economy and cultural development in their respective territories. The administrative-territorial boundaries do not divide but unite the Soviet people.
``All of us, no matter what republic we live in,'' said General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, "are Soviet patriots, children of one socialist homeland. Our native land, our home-country covers a vast area extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea, from the Arctic Ocean to the Pamir and the Caucasus. Everything that has been created by people's hands on this land--- magnificent cities, giant industrial complexes and rich fields, hydroelectric power stations and cultural values---is the result of common labour, our common property, the property of the Soviet people.''
34The Soviet Union has a highly-developed modern industry. Small peasant farms have been replaced by large-scale, mechanised socialist agriculture. Planned socialist economy is developing at a rapid pace.
The Soviet Union inherited an extremely backward, warravaged economy from tsarist Russia. In the period of the first five-year plans (1929--1941) the people radically transformed their country, turning her into a mighty industrial power.
The Second World War dealt a heavy blow to the economy. The country lost about a third of her national wealth, and it required heroic efforts on the part of the entire nation to rehabilitate the economy and ensure its further development.
Despite tremendous difficulties, the Soviet economy made steady progress after the war. Today it is characterised by a mighty upsurge and far-reaching qualitative changes in its structure.
Owing to its high rates of industrial development the Soviet Union's share in world industrial production is increasing with each passing year. In 1971 it accounted for almost a fifth of world industrial output compared with less than 10 per cent in 1937 and less than 3 per cent in 1917. Today the Soviet Union is the world's biggest producer of coal, iron ore, coke, cement and prefabricated ferroconcrete units, felled and saw-timber, main line diesel and electric locomotives, woollen fabrics, granulated sugar and butter.
The Soviet Union has the world's largest cropped area and its harvests of wheat, potato, sugar beet, sunflower and other industrial crops are the biggest in the world. It has surpassed other countries in the volume of railway freight turnover, in the length of electric railways and also in the length of internal waterways and air communications.
The gap between the levels of industrial production in the USSR and the USA is narrowing. While in 1950 the level of Soviet industrial production was less than 30 per cent of that of the United States, in 1970 this figure had risen over 75 per cent.
In recent years the Soviet Union has been concentrating on the qualitative aspect of economic development. The __PRINTERS_P_35_COMMENT__ 3* 35 structure of industry is undergoing serious changes. Considerable progress has been attained in agriculture which is becoming a highly intensive branch of production. The system of economic management has been reorganised, and on the whole, substantial progress has been made in the direction of turning the Soviet Union into a country with the world's most advanced and efficient economy.
A major step in this respect will be made by the Ninth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (1971--1975). The main task of the five-year plan is to ensure a considerable rise of the people's material and cultural level on the basis of a high rate of development of socialist production, enhancement of its efficiency, scientific and technological progress and acceleration of the growth of labour productivity.
The Directives of the Five-Year Economic Development Plan of the USSR for 1971--1975 adopted at the 24th CPSU Congress define both the main task and the principal trends and tasks in individual branches of the economy. The Ninth Five-Year Plan is an important stage in Soviet society's further advance along the road to communism, in building its material and technical basis, and in strengthening the country's economic and defence might.
Characteristic of the Soviet industry is its vast scale and multi-branch structure. By the beginning of 1969 there were more than 50,000 large industrial enterprises which yielded the bulk of the Soviet industrial output. The volume of industrial production is steadily increasing. In 1970 alone industrial enterprises in the USSR manufactured 2.3 times as much as they did in the course of all the prewar fiveyear plan periods (1928--1940) and approximately 12 times as much as in 1940.
The Soviet industry is developing rapidly in the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1971--1975). In 1975, the volume of industrial production will increase 109--112 times above the 1928 level and more than three times compared with the 1960 figure. The industrial potential of the USSR will double in just a single decade (1965--1975).
The Soviet industry has hundreds of branches and types of production. All are united into large branch complexes 36 (groups of branches) of which the chief are engineering, metalworking, chemical and fuel industries, power engineering, metallurgical, timber, building materials, and light and food industries.
The fuel industry has developed into a leading branch of Soviet industrial production. In 1969, the output of all types of fuel (in terms of conventional fuel---7,000 kilocalories) exceeded 1,200 million tons or more than five times the 1940 level. To improve the country's fuel balance special emphasis is laid on the extraction of oil and gas, the two most effective types of fuel. In 1975 they will account for 67 per cent of total output of fuel as compared with 60 per cent in 1970.
In 1971, the Soviet Union produced 377 million tons of oil, and in 1975 its output will be about 496 million tons; the output of natural gas was 212,000 million cu. m. in 1971, and in 1975 it will be as high as 320,000 million cu. m.
The share of coal in the Soviet fuel balance is steadily decreasing. But in absolute figures the production of coal is increasing, even if slowly. While in 1950 the Soviet Union produced 260 million tons of coal, its coal output in 1971 surpassed 641 million tons, or almost twice the combined output in Britain, the FRG and France. In 1975, the coal output will reach 695 million tons. The extraction of coking coals is increasing in Donbas, Kuzbas and Karaganda.
The Soviet Union's power industry is one of the mightiest in the world. Although the emphasis is on the construction of large thermal power stations of which there is a preponderance in the country, highly economical hydroelectric stations are also being built. The capacity of the world-famous Bratsk Hydroelectric Station on the Angara is more than 4,000,000 kw. The construction of the world's biggest Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric scheme (with a planned capacity of 6,000,000 kw) has been completed, and the building of the Sayano-Shushenskoye Hydroelectric Station with an estimated capacity of 6,400,000 kw in the upper reaches of the Yenisei is proceeding apace. The completion of the experimental Kislaya Cuba Tidal Station on Kola Peninsula will inaugurate the era of the utilisation of the energy of ocean tides.
Atomic power engineering first appeared in the USSR. In 1954 the world's first atomic power station of 5,000 kw 37 capacity was put into operation in Obninsk near Moscow. Subsequently several larger atomic power stations were built. It is planned to build an atomic power station of 2,000,000 kw capacity. The average annual growth rate of power capacities in recent years has been from 10 to 12 million kw and the increase in the output of electricity up to 50 million kwh. In the next few years the Soviet power industry will develop twice as fast: the average annual growth of its capacities will be 20 million kw, and the output of electricity will rise by 100,000 million kwh.
About a hundred large regional power systems comprise the single power grid of the European part of the USSR. In 1970 the aggregate capacity of its power stations surpassed 100 million kw.
At present an inter-regional power system of Central Siberia is being created. Transmission lines will run from Siberia to the Urals and from Kazakhstan to the central areas of the USSR. In the near future the power systems of the eastern and central areas of the country will be united into a single power grid of the USSR. Its completion will signify the triumph of Lenin's plan of the electrification of the whole country.
The Soviet metallurgical industry, one of the principal branches of the heavy industry, has reached a high level of development. In 1975 an estimated 146 million tons of steel will be smelted in the country.
Today the USSR occupies a leading place in the world in the production of steel, pig iron, copper, aluminium, lead, zinc, nickel and titanium. It is steadily increasing the output of light (particularly aluminium), alloy (nickel, titanium, tungsten and molybdenum) and rare metals. Specialised factories turning out materials for the electronic industry are going up. Enterprises of the non-ferrous industry are under construction in the rich eastern regions.
The engineering industry is meeting the requirements of the economy in highly-productive machinery and is also exporting part of its output.
Priority is given to the heavy engineering industry manufacturing equipment for the power, metallurgical, chemical, oil and coal industries. Electronic and radio engineering industries are being organised at a rapid rate. Special attention is paid to promoting the rapid development of the 38 tractor and farm machinery industry and to increasing the production capacities of the automobile industry. Very serious measures are taken to accelerate the output of equipment for the light and food industries.
The further development of the engineering industry in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov, Gorky, Minsk, Riga and other cities in the European part of the USSR is accompanied by the establishment of new engineering centres in the East, in regions producing metal and consuming engineering output. In the course of the Ninth Five-Year Plan period the output of the engineering and metalworking industries will increase 1.7 times, and that of electronic computers, 2.6 times.
From 1940 (the last pre-war year) to 1970 inclusive, the chemical industry increased production almost 27-fold. In the next five years it will rise by another 70 per cent. The output of plastics, synthetic fibres and chemical products for household purposes is increasing at a particularly rapid rate. In 1970 the output of mineral fertiliser surpassed 55 million tons, and in 1975 will amount to 90 million tons. Chemical factories are improving the quality and broadening the variety of fertiliser, providing agriculture with increasing quantities of concentrated, compound and mixed fertiliser.
The timber, pulp and paper and woodworking industries have vast timber resources at their disposal. Some 300 million cu. m. of timber were felled in 1970. In this sphere measures are being taken to improve the production structure and ensure an all-round utilisation of timber. Major timbersawing centres---Arkhangelsk, Kotlas, Krasnoyarsk and Igarka---are gradually developing into centres of the complex utilisation of timber raw materials and the chemical and chemical-mechanical processing of timber. New powerful timber industrial complexes are being created in Siberia and the Far East.
The gigantic scope of construction in the USSR is universally known. The building materials and the building industries have become the material and technical basis of largescale capital construction. In 1971 the Soviet Union produced 100 million tons of cement, 90 million cu. m. of prefabricated ferroconcrete units and 44,000 million bricks.
The light and food industries are developing at an 39 accelerated rate. They employ over 25 per cent of the total number of industrial workers and yield more than a quarter of the country's industrial output.
Agriculture in the Soviet Union is an extensive, vitally important branch of the economy, the principal source of food for the people and agricultural raw materials for the industry.
There are approximately 33,000 collective farms ( agricultural artels) and over 15,500 state farms in the socialist agriculture of the Soviet Union. These farms account for the bulk of agricultural produce, and the farmers' subsidiary plots play an auxiliary role in supplying the population with food.
Land, whfch in private hands was an instrument of exploitation of man by man, is now used in the Soviet Union to promote the development of agricultural productive forces in the interests of all people.
Thanks to modern farm machines and expansion of the sown area, the socialist agriculture of the Soviet Union has considerably increased the output of farm and animal produce.
Gross agricultural output was almost three times as great as in the pre-revolutionary period.
The central task in agriculture today, as in the previous years, is to achieve a considerable increase in the output of farm and animal produce.
Soviet industrial enterprises are supplying agriculture with large numbers of tractors, motor vehicles, grain harvester combines and other farm machinery. The scale of electrification of agriculture is steadily growing and so is the level of mechanisation of farming and animal husbandry. Mineral fertiliser is being supplied in ever greater quantities to collective and state farms.
Land-improvement is becoming increasingly important as a factor ensuring high and stable yields of grain and other crops. Today approximately 10 million hectares of irrigated land are planted to rice, cotton and vegetables. By 1975, the total area of irrigated and drained land will be considerably 40 enlarged. According to estimates, the rice yield on these lands will increase three times and that of feed and vegetable crops from three to four times. Cotton and grain harvests will also rise considerably.
Being the leading branch of agriculture, farming yields more than 50 per cent of the gross agricultural product in the country. Cereals are the principal crops. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period (1966--1970) the average annual output of cereals surpassed 167 million tons, and will reach 195 million tons over the current five-year period (1971--1975).
Sugar beet occupies an important place among the industrial crops. The annual sugar beet harvest in the Soviet Union is approximately 90 million tons, or almost as much as in 20 other European sugar-beet-producing countries taken together.
Sunflower is the most widespread oleaginous crop. Flax, castor-oil plant, rape and a variety of essential oil-bearing plants are grown. Among other staple fibrous plants are fibre-flax and hemp. But at present cotton is the principal fibrous crop. The average annual output of raw cotton in Central Asia and other regions in the USSR is twice as great as in India.
In animal husbandry the emphasis is on milk and meat production. Dairy farming is concentrated around big cities and in specialised regions in the north and central areas of the European part of the USSR and in Western Siberia. Some economic areas, such as the Baltic republics, specialise in raising bacon pigs. Fine-fleece sheep are bred in the North Caucasus, in the forest-steppe areas of the Ukraine and other parts of the country. The central and northern areas of the European part of the USSR have fur sheepbreeding farms, and Uzbekistan and Turkmenia specialise in raising astrakhan sheep.
The Soviet Government is paying much attention to promoting the comprehensive mechanisation, electrification and chemicalisation of agriculture and enlarging the scope of land reclamation work. Some 129,000 million rubles will be invested in agriculture during the current five years (1971--1975), accelerating the transition of agriculture to an industrial basis and strengthening the country's food-- production base.
41Transport is a developed branch of the economy of the USSR. The total length of overland communications is now close to 2,000,000 kilometres.
There are all modern types of transport---railway, water, motor, pipeline and air---in the USSR. But their role in transport operations is not the same. The technical reorganisation of transport and the priority development of its new types are altering the economic effectivity and role of various types of transport in freight and passenger traffic.
In the Soviet Union, which is a continental country, railways form the backbone of the transport system. And although other types of transport are developing at a faster pace, the railways handle about two-thirds of the total freight turnover and more than a half of the passenger traffic.
In 1970 railway freight turnover reached 2,490,000 million ton/km. This is more than two and a half times the volume of freight turnover of railways in the United States, although the length of Soviet railways is approximately 60 per cent shorter. The USSR, which has one-tenth of the total length of railways in the world, handles about 50 per cent of the world's rail freight.
The Soviet Union has direct rail passenger communications with a score of European and Asian countries. In fifty years the length of railways in the USSR has almost doubled, reaching 135,000 kilometres. On an average over a thousand kilometres of railways are built annually in the country. The most intensive main lines are being converted to electric traction.
Since the war the freight turnover handled by water transport has increased more than 14 times, including a 29-fold increase in the volume of sea-borne cargo. On the whole, however, water transport accounts for only slightly more than 20 per cent of the total freight turnover.
Economic ties between maritime regions of the USSR (coastal shipping) are maintained by sea-borne transport which also handles overseas export and import operations. Soviet ships call at ports of more than 100 countries.
In the past decade a large number of modern ships, including general purpose and specialised vessels equipped 42 with automatic control systems, have been added to the Soviet merchant marine.
The river fleet services more than 144,000 kilometres of navigable internal waterways. With the construction of the Moscow, the White Sea-Baltic, the Lenin Volga-Don Shipping, and the Lenin Volga-Baltic Sea canals a single water transport system was established in the European part of the USSR. This system connects the Caspian, Azov, Black, Baltic and White seas and unites a considerable part of the main navigable river routes, most of which extend in the meridional direction. There is an increasing tendency to transport goods directly from river ports to sea ports.
Pipeline transport is developing at a very rapid pace. From 50 to 66 per cent cheaper than rail transport, it ensures reliable and efficient delivery of oil and oil products. The Soviet Union was first to build pipelines over a metre in diameter. Currently it is building pipelines with a diameter of 2.5 metres. The average diameter of Soviet gas pipelines is 30 per cent greater than those in the United States. Soviet natural gas is piped to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria, and there are plans to pipe it also to Bulgaria and some West European countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy.
The network of pipelines is the densest in the oil-- producing areas of the Caucasus and the Volga-Urals basin. From here, just as from the oil-producing areas of Western Siberia and Western Kazakhstan, pipelines with a very high carrying capacity are being extended to oil refineries and industrial enterprises in the eastern and western parts of the country.
The Trans-Siberian Oil Pipeline, the longest pipeline running eastwards, passes through Omsk and Krasnoyarsk to the Far East.
The international Druzhba (Friendship) Oil Pipeline which extends for 3,000 kilometres across the Soviet Union supplies oil extracted in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Poland and Czechoslovakia and also to Hungary and the German Democratic Republic. Over 50 per cent of oil products in the USSR are transported by pipeline.
Soviet motor transport annually handles about 15,000 million tons of freight, or five times the volume of freight carried by all other types of transport. But the average 43 distance of one ton of freight hauled by motor transport is approximately 15 kilometres. Therefore, motor transport accounts for a small share of the total freight turnover.
Motor traffic between the USSR and foreign countries is expanding. Soviet lorry columns deliver perishable goods to the socialist and other countries in Europe and also to the Mongolian People's Republic.
There are thousands of trunk bus lines. The length of motor roads in the USSR has almost doubled since the war and today exceeds 1,500,000 kilometres, including 500,000 kilometres of hard-surfaced roads.
Air transport handles domestic freight and passenger traffic primarily over long distances and also to foreign countries. Aeroflot planes service about 2,000 passenger lines.
Regular air services are maintained throughout the year between Moscow, the country's capital and principal air terminal, and the capitals of all the Union Republics, and a large number of cities and industrial centres. All told, airlines connect more than 3,500 cities and other inhabited localities. Domestic airlines total approximately 600,000 kilometres.
Over 50 airlines link the Soviet Union with countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. The Aeroflot handles about 33 per cent of the world air freight and passenger traffic.
Soviet airlines are served by comfortable modern planes. At the close of 1968 the world's first supersonic passenger plane, the TU-144, made its trial flight. Flying at 2,500 km per hour with 120 passengers on board the TU-144 will be used on long-distance domestic and international flights.
Socialist industrialisation, reorganisation of agriculture and the technical reconstruction of transport in the Soviet Union were accompanied by fundamental changes in the geographic distribution of production. The objective necessity of making these changes was dictated both by the extensive scope of capital construction and the vital need to alter the geographic pattern of production inherited from tsarist Russia.
44When the Soviet Union was established the country's industry was unevenly distributed and there was a sharp difference in the levels of economic development between the central and outlying regions. The rapid development of the economy and culture in all republics and areas gradually narrowed the gap between their economic levels and led to the formation of a rational territorial structure of the economy.
The economy of the national republics and the country's eastern regions is developing at a rapid pace. Today the eastern regions, including the Urals, manufacture about a third of the national industrial output. In the aggregate industrial output, the share of some key industrial items is higher in the eastern regions than it is in the country as a whole.
A considerable part of the national centralised capital investments is channelled into the eastern regions to augment their economic potential. Working in the rigid climatic and geographic conditions of the northern and eastern regions, Soviet people are putting up industrial enterprises, developing vast natural resources, and building workers' townships and cities.
The building of enterprises of labour-intensive branches of industry and the technical reconstruction of operating enterprises is continuing in the European part of the country which has great production capacities and large labour resources.
The steady growth of the productive forces, increasing specialisation and further all-round development of the economy are reflected in the country's economic regionalisation. To facilitate national economic planning the USSR has been divided into 18 major economic regions.
There are ten economic regions in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). It is the largest republic of the Soviet Union and possesses the biggest industrial and agricultural potential. Its industrial output rose 10.6 times from 1940 to 1970. The RSFSR accounts for over 50 per cent of the country's population, and for two-thirds of her industrial and about a half of her agricultural output.
45The RSFSR renders all-round assistance to the Union Republics in their economic and cultural development. It plays a leading role in furthering the Soviet Union's economic, scientific, technical and cultural co-operation with socialist and other countries.
For size of territory, population and economic potential each of these ten regions can be compared with many foreign countries. For example, the population of the Urals is twice as large as that of Sweden, the number of inhabitants in the North Caucasus Region is approximately the same as in Czechoslovakia, and the population of the Central Region is only slightly smaller than that of Poland.
The Central Economic Region is the mainstay of the country's industrial and defensive potential and the chief centre of her science and culture. The capital of the Soviet Union, Moscow, a modern city with more than 7,000,000 inhabitants is situated here. In size of population it ranks third among capital cities after Tokyo and London. Being the capital of a world power, Moscow is a major international economic and cultural centre.
It is also the country's biggest communications hub and industrial centre; it manufactures several times more goods than was produced in the whole of Russia before the Revolution. Moscow's industrial complex consists of heavy engineering (chiefly machine-building and metalworking), chemical, light and food industries whose output is utilised both in the city itself, in other parts of the country and also abroad.
Moscow is one of the world's greatest scientific and cultural centres. Approximately 200,000 specialists staff its scientific institutions, higher educational establishments and other organisations. Over 600,000 students, including tens of thousands of foreigners, are enrolled at its institutions of higher learning of which there are several dozen. Thousands of students and post-graduates from more than 70 countries study at Moscow University alone.
The Patrice Lumumba Friendship University offering training primarily to young people from Asian, African and Latin American countries has developed into a major educational centre. It has a student body of over 4,000 future engineers, agronomists, physicians, physicists, chemists, mathematicians and also specialists in the humanities. In 46 addition to their basic professions also many of them acquire a second speciality, that of translators from the Russian.
Moscow has some of the world's greatest theatres, museums and libraries, among them the Bolshoi Theatre and the Art Theatre, the Lenin Library, the Lenin Museum, the Museum of the Revolution, the Polytechnical Museum, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and the Tretyakov Picture Gallery.
It is rapidly building up its housing resources, improving its municipal economy, highways, streets, squares and parks. Moscow creates a tremendous impression, noted the American public dignitary Cyrus Eaton who visited the Soviet capital at the close of 1969, it is a great city which has made colossal progress in many fields.
The principal industries of the Central-Chernozem Region are iron-ore mining, iron and steel, chemical and engineering. Agriculture specialises in the production of grain, meat, milk, sunflower and sugar beet.
Situated in the Central-Chernozem Region the mining complex of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA), the world's biggest iron-ore deposit, is developing into an iron-ore base for the iron and steel industries of Tula, Lipetsk and Donbas, and also for the iron and steel industries of Poland, the German Democratic Republic and other socialist countries. It is planned to put up a giant iron and steel complex in the KMA.
The Volga-Vyatka Region together with Gorky (1,200,000 inhabitants) is a large industrial area on the Volga with developed automobile, shipbuilding, electrical engineering, instrument-making and other branches of the engineering industry. Industrial production is advancing rapidly in Kirov, Cheboksary, Saransk and other cities in the region. There is a very promising outlook for the chemical and wood-working industries, which draw upon the large timber resources of the left bank of the Volga.
The Northwestern Region accounts for 10 per cent of the aggregate output of the Soviet machine-building industry; it also has large-scale wood-working, chemical and mining industries. Leningrad (over 4,000,000 inhabitants), the second largest city after Moscow and an important industrial and communications centre, is situated in the Region. Its 47 industrial enterprises make sea-going ships, powerful steam and water turbines, intricate radio equipment, precision instruments, automatic machine-tools, chemical products, consumer articles and foodstuffs. Goods manufactured in Leningrad are also exported to many countries. Leningrad is one of the world's greatest scientific and cultural centres.
Chemical raw materials (apatites) and metal ores are mined in Kola Peninsula which also has developed aluminium and nickel, and timber (Arkhangelsk and Kotlas) and fishing (Murmansk) industries. The further industrial development of the Northwest is connected with the expansion of the metallurgical base (Cherepovets) and the enlargement of the fuel and power base.
Important measures are being taken to increase the production of grain, meat, milk and other agricultural products.
The Volga Region is the country's chief source of oil and yields large quantities of natural gas. It has a highly developed petrochemical industry. Engineering, light, food and other industries are concentrated in Kuibyshev, Kazan, Volgograd, Saratov, Penza, Sterlitamak and Astrakhan. The giant Volzhsky Automobile Plant has been built and put into operation in Togliatti, and the world's biggest Kama Lorry Plant is under construction nearby. The Volga area produces large quantities of commodity grain and also meat and mustard and other products. The region's power base consists of thermal power plants and the Kuibyshev, Saratov and Volgograd hydroelectric stations.
Two towns on the Volga are closely connected with Lenin's name. They are Ulyanovsk and Kazan. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was born in Ulyanovsk (Simbirsk) on April 22, 1870 into the family of Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, a director of public schools, and spent his childhood and school years in this town. Later Lenin studied at Kazan University.
Since then Ulyanovsk has changed beyond recognition. Today it is a town of engineering industry and light industry workers, railwaymen and river transport workers. The Lenin Memorial Complex, which is attracting numerous visitors from all parts of the USSR and also foreign guests, was completed in 1970, the Lenin centenary year.
The North Caucasus Region specialises in oil and gas extraction and is also a major centre of the iron and steel 48 and non-ferrous industries, coal mining and engineering. Its principal industrial centres are Rostov on the Don, Krasnodar, Taganrog, Novorossiisk, Stavropol, Nalchik, Orjonikidze, Grozny and Makhachkala. The climatic and soil conditions in the region are favourable for horticulture and viticulture, and the cultivation of wheat, corn, sunflower and sugar beet. The North Caucasus is famed for its finefleece sheep and also for its health resorts.
'The Urals Region is the industrial bulwark of the USSR. Its centre is Sverdlovsk, the site of the world-famous Urals Heavy Engineering Works.
The Region also includes Perm with its shipbuilding, petrochemical and pulp and paper industry, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, a national major iron and steel centre, and many other important cities. In the south of the Urals work is in progress on Europe's largest deposit of natural gas.
The Kuzbas (Kuznetsk Basin) is the chief industrial centre of the West-Siberian Region. There are large industrial cities in Kuzbas: Novokuznetsk (ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, heavy engineering, coal mining) and Kemerovo (coal, coal chemistry and engineering). Novosibirsk (about 1,200,000 inhabitants) is the biggest engineering centre east of the Urals. The Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, the site of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, is a major scientific centre.
There are other large cities in West Siberia, among them Omsk, Barnaul and Tomsk.
The Tyumen and Tomsk regions occupy a special place in the economy of Western Siberia. The country's richest, even unique deposits of oil and gas have recently been discovered on their territories. Currently roads, railways, main pipelines and modern towns are being rapidly built, and much attention is being devoted to developing agriculture which will supply the new, powerful industrial complex of Siberia with food.
'The East Siberian Region has fabulous coal and hydropower resources and vast deposits of ferrous and non-- ferrous metals. Taking shape within its boundaries is the new Angara-Yenisei Industrial Complex with Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk as its centres. The industry of Bratsk and Angarsk and of the old Siberian towns, including Ulan-Ude and Chita, is likewise developing.
__PRINTERS_P_49_COMMENT__ 4---999 49A memorial complex was completed in the Lenin Centenary year in the village of Shushenskoye where Lenin lived in exile in tsarist times. The complex includes the Lenin House Museum and other memorable places. Next to the old village of Shushenskoye stands a modern township of the same name. The Sayano-Shushenskoye Hydroelectric Station, the biggest in the country, now under construction in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, will be a majestic monument to Lenin.
Occupying a vast territory extending from Yakutia to Kamchatka and from Chukotka to the Primorye, the Far Eastern Region is rich in coal, iron ore, gold, diamonds, complex ores and other useful minerals. It has vast resources of valuable timber in the Far Eastern taiga, fish in its rivers and the seas of the Pacific Ocean which washes its shores, and fertile soils in its southern areas.
The region's industrial centres are the rapidly growing cities of Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The industries of Yakutsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Magadan, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Vladivostok are also developing at a rapid rate.
There are three economic regions of nation-wide importance in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Soviet Ukraine sustained enormous losses during the Second World War and the nazi occupation. The direct material losses which the nazi occupation inflicted on the Ukraine comprised over 75 per cent of the total losses sustained by all the countries (barring the Soviet Union) of the anti-Hitler coalition.
It seemed that it would take the Ukraine decades to do away with the dire consequences of the war. But thanks to the assistance of the Russian and other fraternal Soviet peoples, the Ukraine rehabilitated her economy in five years and then vastly increased her economic potential.
The Ukraine accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the pig iron and iron ore produced in the USSR, more than 40 per cent of the steel, over 33 per cent of the coal and natural gas, almost 50 per cent of the equipment for the metallurgical and over 33 per cent of equipment for the chemical industries, a considerable portion of tractors, excavators and other products of the engineering industry and 50 numerous items of the chemical and food industries. It is difficult to overestimate Ukraine's importance as a foodproducing area. Besides producing millions of tons of grain, the Ukraine accounts for 33 per cent of the vegetables, 40 per cent of sunflower, more than 60 per cent of the sugar beet cultivated in the Soviet Union and also for 20 per cent of its animal products. Industrial production in the Ukraine rose 8.3 times from 1940 to 1970.
The Ukraine's economic potential will continue to grow in the current five-year period. In 1975 she will be producing 200,000 million kwh of electric power, 215 million tons of coal, 33--38 million tons of rolled ferrous metals and vast amounts of other items. The annual grain production will reach 40 million tons.
The industrial foundation of the Donets-Dnieper Economic Region consists of coal (Donbas), iron ore (Krivoi Rog) and manganese ore (Nikopol) extraction, ferrous metallurgy (Donbas, Dnieper and Azov Sea areas), power engineering and the chemical industry. Heavy engineering plants are concentrated in Kharkov, Donetsk, Kramatorsk, Zaporozhye, Dniepropetrovsk and Zhdanov. Kharkov (more than 1,200,000 inhabitants) is a major centre of the heavy engineering, chemical, light and food industries. Grain, sunflower and sugar beet are the chief products of the region's highly intensive agriculture.
The economic core of the Southwest Region is made up of the engineering, chemical and light industries and the country's biggest sugar industry. Kiev (about 1,700,000 inhabitants), the capital of the Ukraine and one of the loveliest Soviet cities, has developed into a major industrial centre and the republic's leading scientific and cultural centre.
Lvov is the chief industrial centre and communications hub of Western Ukraine. Cherkassy, Zhitomir and Vinnitsa are developing into centres of the engineering, chemical and food industries. Food industry enterprises are going up in many small and medium-size towns of the Ukraine.
Modern industry and intensive agriculture (grain, fruits, grapes) are the foundation of the economy of the Southern Region. The biggest shipbuilding yards and engineering and food industry enterprises are situated in Odessa, Nikolayev and Kherson. Ships from many countries call at the Odessa and Ilyichevsk sea ports.
__PRINTERS_P_51_COMMENT__ 4* 51The Baltic Economic Region embraces the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Union republics and the Kaliningrad Region on the Baltic Sea coast. Having overcome the dire consequences of the war and the nazi occupation, the Baltic republics have made great strides in all spheres of economic and cultural life.
Formerly a backward agrarian area, Lithuania has become an advanced industrial republic. Today her industrial output is 31 times greater than in 1940. Lithuania is a large-scale producer of machine tools (10 per cent of Soviet-made metal-cutting lathes are manufactured in Lithuania) and is developing her electric engineering, radio engineering, electronic, chemical and oil industries. Vilnius, the capital, is the republic's principal industrial centre. Another major industrial centre is Kaunas, and the ice-free port of Klaipeda has large shipyards. Industry is developing in other cities.
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic occupies an important place in the family of Baltic republics and in the Soviet Union as a whole. In 1970 its industrial output surpassed the 1940 level by 27 times. Besides the fishing and food industries, its economy now embraces radio engineering, electronic, instrument-making, chemical and other branches of industry.
Riga, the capital, is Latvia's biggest Baltic port, industrial and cultural centre and communications hub. Its university and other institutions of higher learning train qualified personnel for various branches of production, science and culture. Latvia has 3.5 times as many students per thousand of population as there are in the FRG, three times as many as in Britain and two times as many as in France or Sweden.
The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic has become an industrially advanced republic in the years since the establishment of Soviet power. Its chief economic branches are engineering, woodworking, paper, chemical, food and textile industries. From 1940 to 1970 industrial production in Estonia rose 28 times. Tallinn, the capital, is a Baltic port and centre of Estonian culture.
The economy of Kaliningrad Region in the west of the RSFSR is rapidly advancing. Kaliningrad is a large industrial centre, a Baltic port and an Atlantic fishing base.
The Transcaucasian Economic Region embraces the Georgian, Azerbaijan and Armenian Soviet Socialist republics.
52Georgia, with her ore-mining, metallurgical, engineering and food industries, occupies a prominent place in the Soviet economy. In 1970, her industrial output was 8.4 times higher than in 1940. The volume of industrial production will increase almost 50 per cent in the next five years (1971--1975). Ancient Tbilisi, the capital, is the republic's main seat of industry and culture.
Azerbaijan is called a republic of oil and cotton. Its industrial structure consists of such interconnected branches as oil and gas extraction, oil refining and petrochemistry, and the manufacture of pipes and plant for the oil industry. Cotton and animal products are processed at light and food industry enterprises. In 1970 the volume of industrial production in Azerbaijan surpassed the 1940 level by 5.5 times. During the fifty years of Soviet power, the volume of industrial output in Azerbaijan increased 70-fold. Oil production rose 7 times. In 1970 Azerbaijan's oilfields yielded their 1,000 millionth ton of oil. The republic's economy will make further progress in the Ninth FiveYear Plan period.
The capital Baku (nearly 1,300,000 inhabitants) is the biggest city in Azerbaijan and in the whole of Transcaucasia. It is an important centre of oil and other industries, and the seat of culture and science of socialist Azerbaijan.
Small both in area and population, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic has made great headway in cultural and economic development. Pre-revolutionary Armenia was a backward, long-suffering land. Soviet power freed the Armenian people from oppression and ensured for them a free life in the friendly family of equal Soviet nations.
Armenia today has a thriving industry which includes such branches as engineering, instrument-making, electronic and radio engineering. It has a developed non-ferrous metallurgy, particularly the copper-molybdenum and aluminium industries, and rubber, chemical, food and light industries. The republic's power base consists of hydroelectric stations on the Razdan and other mountain rivers. In 1970 Armenia's industrial output was 21 times higher than in 1940. Since the establishment of Soviet power, the industrial output in Armenia increased 180-fold, and her industrial production will rise by more than 50 per cent in the current five-year period. Her 53 agriculture specialises in the cultivation of cotton, grapes, vegetables and tobacco.
In 1968 her capital Yerevan observed the 2750th anniversary of its foundation. It is a major industrial and cultural centre of Armenia and the USSR as a whole.
Lying in the zone of vast deserts, great mountains and fertile valleys, the Union Republics of Central Asia--- Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan and Turkmenia---have common natural and historical features. They have a multibranch economy and together comprise the Central Asian Economic Region. A land of great ancient culture, feudal Central Asia was a backward colonial country before the revolution. After the establishment of Soviet power the Central Asian peoples within the span of a single generation advanced from feudalism to socialism and national equality. They did away with economic and cultural backwardness and created a flourishing socialist economy and culture.
The Central Asian Economic Region produces more than 90 per cent of the country's output of raw cotton. As regards the total cotton harvest which in 1970 amounted to 6 million tons, Soviet Central Asia has surpassed the United States, and overtaken Burma, India, Pakistan and Iran taken together. The combined cotton harvest of all African countries that cultivate this valuable crop is but 50 per cent of the aggregate cotton output of the Central Asian republics. They also produce more cotton than is grown in Latin America.
In view of their manifestly cotton-growing specialisation the economy of the Central Asian republics includes cotton-processing branches (ginneries, oil mills), production of cotton fabrics, cotton-picking combines, textile machinery, mineral fertiliser for cotton plantations, and cement and concrete units for irrigation structures. The Region is now producing considerable quantities of natural gas, oil, and ores of non-ferrous and rare metals, about 35 per cent of the country's wool and about 70 per cent of the raw silk, and also a large number of karakul skins and other items used both at home and exported to many countries.
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic which yields 67 per cent of the country's cotton output is economically the most developed area of Central Asia. In the period from 1940 to 1970 industrial output in Uzbekistan increased nine times. In 1970, the Uzbek Republic alone took in 4,700,000 tons of 54 raw cotton, and will increase its production to five million tons in 1975. Today the republic accounts for 80 per cent of the total industrial output of the Central Asian Economic Region.
Tashkent (about 1,500,000 inhabitants), capital of Uzbekistan, is the biggest industrial centre of Central Asia. Rebuilt by the whole country following a disastrous earthquake, Tashkent is now a better and a more modern city than it has ever been. It is the seat of the Lenin Central Asian State University, the first university to be established in the Soviet Eastern republics, the republican Academy of Sciences with its more than a score of research institutions and other scientific and cultural organisations.
Over 300 large industrial enterprises have been built since the establishment of Soviet power in Kirghizia, a land of fertile pastures and vast mineral wealth. Her industrial output rose 19 times in the period from 1940 to 1970. The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic has diversified mining and manufacturing industries, grain and animal farms. It produces more machine-tools than Kazakhstan, and is one of the biggest producers of antimony and mercury in the USSR. The capital, Frunze, is the principal industrial and cultural centre.
Situated high in the Pamir Mountains, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic is rich in coal, oil, lead, zinc, bismuth, tungsten, gold and other precious metals. It has developed engineering, electrical engineering, light and food industries. Industrial output in the republic increased almost 10 times between 1940 and 1970. Tajikistan's rapidly advancing agriculture yields 11 per cent of the total Soviet cotton harvest. Other branches of agriculture are stock-breeding, viticulture, horticulture and sericulture. Formerly a small mountain village, Dushanbe is now the capital, a modern city and Tajikistan's industrial and cultural centre.
The Turkmenian Soviet Socialist Republic is famous for its karakul sheep, sericulture and carpets. But the principal branches of the economy are the oil, gas, chemical and engineering industries. It is a leading oil-producing area, ranking third after the RSFSR and Azerbaijan. From 1940 to 1970 its industrial output increased nearly seven times. Ashkhabad, the capital, is a communications hub and the republican seat of culture and science. Completely rebuilt 55 following the 1948 earthquake, Ashkhabad is one of the most beautiful cities in Central Asia. Krasnovodsk, a Caspian port which has a ferry service with Baku, is the centre of the Turkmenian oil industry.
Prior to the revolution Kazakhstan was a land of nomad stock-breeding with scattered farming and occasional mines. As a result of the socialist industrialisation industrial output in Kazakhstan increased almost 19 times in the period from 1940--1970. Today the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic is an important economic area which holds a firm third place after the Russian Federation and the Ukraine for volume of industrial output.
Non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, coal mining ( Karaganda) and oil extraction (Mangyshlak, Emba) are the core of Kazakhstan's socialist economy. Other growing industries are: engineering, chemical, light and food. In 1975, Kazakhstan will produce five million tons of rolled ferrous metals, 30 million tons of oil, 94 million tons of coal, and large quantities of other items.
The development of large tracts of virgin land in the 1960s enhanced Kazakhstan's importance as a major grain producing area. Sheep-breeding and meat and milk production occupy a prominent place in the republic's economy.
Alma-Ata, capital of Kazakhstan, is an important industrial, scientific and cultural centre of the republic.
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic is a large economic region. Before the revolution the economy of Byelorussia was in a state of stagnation owing to her geographic position between the competing industrial areas of Moscow, Petrograd (now Leningrad) and Warsaw. In Soviet times her proximity to the industrial centres of the Soviet Union has been utilised to promote the all-round development of her socialist economy. By 1940 the volume of industrial output in the republic had increased 700 per cent compared with the 1913 level.
The nazi invasion and the damage sustained in the Great Patriotic War threw the republic's economy back to the 1913 level. Out of its 9,000,000 inhabitants, more than two million were killed and about 500,000 were driven to slave labour in nazi Germany.
With the assistance and the support of fraternal Soviet republics, Byelorussia healed her war wounds within a short 56 space of time and swiftly rehabilitated her economy. In 1970 industrial output in the republic was 12.5 times higher than in 1940. Byelorussian manufactured goods are delivered to all the Union Republics and exported to more than 80 foreign countries.
The most important branches of Byelorussia's industrial complex are industries manufacturing tractors, motorcycles and motor scooters, metal-cutting machine-tools, heavy lorries, radio and TV sets, mineral fertiliser and synthetic fibres.
In addition to a powerful industry, the republic has a highly-developed agriculture specialising in the production of potatoes and flax. Byelorussia is also a major producer of meat and animal products.
About 500,000 specialists with a higher and secondary specialised education are employed in the republic's economy.
Of the cities which had been razed in the war and then restored, Minsk, the capital of the republic, deserves special mention. Today it has just under a million inhabitants, almost four times as many as before the war. It is one of the country's largest industrial and cultural centres famed not only for its industrial enterprises but also for its architectural ensembles, theatres and museums.
Situated along the southwest border of the USSR, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic has a mild and generous climate thanks to which it has become a major fruit and vine-growing area. Besides food and light industries, the republic has a diversified engineering industry manufacturing electric motors, transformers, tractors, domestic refrigerators, washing machines and other items. In 1970 the republic's industrial output was 2.5 times greater than in 1940.
Moldavia, where before the revolution the majority of the adult population could neither read nor write, is now a republic of total literacy. Kishinev, the capital, is its principal seat of science, culture and industry.
__b_b_b__The constituent republics and economic regions of the USSR have a great diversity of economic and cultural features. Within the framework of a single state plan 57 determining the principal economic development trends with consideration for local conditions, all these parts of the Soviet Union are solving the practical tasks of their economic and cultural growth. The joint efforts of the republics and economic regions are augmenting the economic potential of the Soviet Union and raising the material welfare of each citizen.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Socialist CountriesIn 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.
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.
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.
Today European socialist countries account for 10 per cent of the world industrial output. Economically, the GDR 58 and Poland are approaching the level of the world's most advanced countries.
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.
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.
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.
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.
59Among 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.
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.
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.
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.
In 25 years of socialist construction Poland has made tremendous progress. Pre-war Poland was a backward 60 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 61 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.
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.
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.
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.
Thanks to her powerful agricultural base Poland is steadily developing her sugar, flour and other branches of the food industry.
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 62 Culture and Science built by the Soviet Union and presented as a gift to Poland.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 63 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nevertheless, in the process of socialist construction the 64 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 __PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__ 6---999 65 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.
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.
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.
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.
Berlin^^*^^ (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.
Besides being industrial centres, cities of the German _-_-_
^^*^^ There is also West Berlin (2.1 million inhabitants), a political entity with a special international status.
66 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.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.
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.
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.
__PRINTERS_P_67_COMMENT__ 5* 67Thanks 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.
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.
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.
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.
Though small in area (128,000 sq. km.) and population (over 14 million), Czechoslovakia is a highly-advanced industrial state.
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 68 shuttleless automatic looms, spindleless spinning machines and other items whose quality is up to international standards.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 69 factories. The country produces large quantities of granulated sugar, the famous Czech beer and other consumer goods.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 70 metallurgical plant operating mainly on Soviet ore. Slovakia has adequate opportunities for further promoting her industry and raising material and cultural standards.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Agriculture in the form of large private estates was the principal branch of the economy of bourgeois-landowner 71 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 72 the output of medicines which stand high on her export list.
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.
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.
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.
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.
73Inspired 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rumania has diverse and extensive foreign economic ties. 74 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The power industry in the main uses mineral fuel and partly the hydroelectric resources of the mountain rivers. 75 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
76In 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.
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.
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.
People's Bulgaria is an industrial-agrarian country whose newly-established socialist industry accounts for the greater part of the gross national product.
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 77 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
78Agriculture 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.
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.
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.
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.
79The 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Multinational Yugoslavia is a federal socialist republic 80 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The timber, woodworking and pulp and paper industries are located in the forest-rich areas of Slovenia, Bosnia and __PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__ 6---999 81 Hercegovina, and Croatia. Furniture and other articles are major items of export.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
82In 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.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Socialist CountriesIn the east the Soviet Union has an 11,000-kilometre-long common frontier with the socialist countries of Asia. Of them only the Democratic Republic of Vietnam does not border on the USSR. The socialist countries of Asia are situated in the eastern and southeastern parts of the continent and have a long Pacific coastline.
Covering an area of over 11,000,000 sq. km., the socialist countries of Asia possess enormous natural and manpower resources which open before them vast prospects for economic and cultural development.
The Asian socialist countries launched upon the road of socialist construction at different periods of time.
Established in 1921, the Mongolian People's Republic was the first Asian country to take the road of socialism.
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on September 2, 1945 following the victory of the national popular-democratic revolution. The Korean People's Democratic Republic was established in 1948. The Chinese People's Republic emerged in 1949 following the victory of the people's revolution in the country.
Mongolia, which has an area of over 1,500,000 sq. km., lies almost precisely in the geographic centre of Asia. The greater part of the republic is covered by mountains and __PRINTERS_P_83_COMMENT__ 6* 83 plateaus, and although the landscape is picturesque, climatic and natural conditions are difficult.
Mongolia has a fairly rigorous climate. Winters are long and cold with the temperature frequently falling as low as---40° C. In summer the temperature rises to +40°C.
The republic abounds in fertile pastures, and rivers and lakes inhabited by valuable species of fish. Mongolia has a varied flora and fauna, and proven deposits of coal, iron, gold, copper, lead, tin, tungsten and fluorite.
For centuries the arats, common herdsmen, suffered under the yoke of feudal and colonial slavery. Foreign merchants and local feudal lords mercilessly plundered the people who were gradually dying out even after the establishment, in the beginning of the 20th century, of the so-called autonomous Mongolian state.
It was the popular revolution carried out with the support and assistance of Soviet Russia that brought freedom and a new life to the Mongolian people. The October Socialist Revolution in Russia had a tremendous impact on the liberation struggle of the Mongolian people and helped mould the world outlook of its leader Sukhe-Bator. Speaking at a conference of the Russian Communist Party in 1920 in Irkutsk, Sukhe-Bator declared that the Party's appeal had been heard by the herdsmen in the wild Mongolian steppes enslaved by the local theocratic feudal lords, Chinese militarists and world capital. "The peoples of the East are rising,'' said Sukhe-Bator. "The Russian communist revolution has lit the flames of revolution in the East.''
The Mongolian Revolution was consummated in July 1921, and the Mongolian People's Republic became the first country in the world to launch the construction of socialism bypassing the capitalist stage of development. Since the establishment of people's power Mongolia has eliminated her economic backwardness and effected profound socio-economic reforms which have resulted in the establishment of a single socialist economy and led to a sharp rise in the standard of living and the cultural level of the population. There are over 500 general and specialised schools in the country. Her institutions of higher learning are training highly-qualified national personnel. Mongolian science and culture are developing apace.
84Mongolia has a population of over 1,200,000. Formerly a country with a diminishing population, Mongolia today is characterised by a rapid natural growth of population. Prior to the establishment of people's power medicine, in the modern sense of the word, was unknown in the country, whereas now there are 17 doctors per 10,000 of the population, or 7-8 times more than in Pakistan, Iran or Turkey.
Present-day Mongolia is an agricultural-industrial country, in which agriculture yields over 20 per cent of the national income. Agriculture is developing on a new social and technical basis. Former nomad herdsmen have united in agricultural associations. There are over 10,000 tractors, 2,000 grain combines and other modern agricultural machines and implements at the farms.
Animal husbandry, the traditional occupation of the Mongolians, specialises in sheep- and goat-breeding (nearly 18 million head) and cattle-raising (over 2 million head). For the number of cattle (20 head) per capita of population Mongolia holds a leading place in the world. Animal products are the chief items of export.
Stock-breeding is nomadic as it has always been with herdsmen driving the cattle from pasture to pasture. But now there is a new element in it. At the central estates of agricultural associations there are boarding schools, hotels, firstaid stations, clubs and communal services available to the arats and their families. Animal husbandry is becoming less and less dependent on the whims of nature. State machine and stock-breeding stations lay in sufficient fodder to feed the cattle in the winter. Wells are dug on the pastures and there are sheds to protect the cattle from winter frosts. A network of veterinary stations is being organised.
Farming is developing. The principal trend is the cultivation of grain crops, and wheat is grown on mechanised state farms in virgin lands. State farms yield 80 per cent of the total grain harvest and 90 per cent of the potatoes and vegetables. Mongolia is self-sufficient in grain and other foodstuffs.
Thanks to socialist industrialisation Mongolia is becoming an industrial-agricultural country. Gross industrial output in Mongolia has increased 15 times since 1940. Today her industry and construction yield over a third of the national income.
85Mongolia has extractive and manufacturing industries, the latter producing woollen fabrics, felt, leather, footwear and meat products and other items. The output of non-ferrous metals, fluorite and coal is mounting and the country's power stations annually generate over 500 million kwh of electricity. The production of cement and other building materials is being organised. In the past few years alone over a hundred industrial enterprises were built in Mongolia with the fraternal assistance of other socialist states.
The development of natural resources and further economic growth depend directly on the expansion of the transport system. A decisive role in the freight turnover is played by railways and the motor transport, particularly along the routes linking the republic with the USSR.
Industrial towns are rising along the main transport routes in places where natural resources are being worked. A case in point is Darkhan, a town built near the Transmongolian Railway in the vicinity of the Sharyn-Gol coal mines north of Ulan-Bator. A powerful industrial complex is being built in the town with the assistance of socialist countries.
Ulan-Bator, Mongolia's capital and principal industrial centre, vividly demonstrates the country's headway in economic and cultural development. Ulan-Bator is the seat of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and the University. It also has colleges, theatres and other scientific and cultural institutions.
A struggle for the right to build a new life united in a single family is being waged by the people of Vietnam, another Asian country which imperialism divided into the northern and southern parts after the Second World War. A provisional demarcation line divides Vietnam at about 17°N. As in Korea, the inhabitants of North and South Vietnam are developing along different roads. But they are united by a single objective---their common struggle for an integral, independent, democratic and flourishing state.
North Vietnam has an area of 158,000 sq. km. and 20 million inhabitants, and South Vietnam has an area of 171,000 sq. km. and 17 million inhabitants.
86North Vietnam has carried out fundamental socio-- economic reforms and is now building the material and technical basis of socialism. The agrarian reform did away with the survivals of feudalism in the country and the peasants are united in co-operatives. The nationalisation of industry was conducted parallel with the building of new modern enterprises, the cultural revolution put an end to illiteracy, and there was a steady improvement in the standard of life.
The escalation of the US aggression in Vietnam and the US air raids on North Vietnam seriously damaged the republic's economy. Many towns and villages have been wrecked. Industrial enterprises, roads, irrigation systems, hospitals and schools have been destroyed or damaged. There have been considerable losses of life. US imperialism is continuing its provocations against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam even though Washington, giving in to the pressure of world public opinion, officially announced the cessation of air raids on North Vietnam. In 1972, the Americans resumed their bombing of peaceful towns and villages in the DRV. In these, new conditions, the republic is mobilising the people for the task of building socialism.
Over 500 industrial enterprises subject to local authorities have become operational in various parts of North Vietnam. Machine-building and metal-working factories, whose output is essential for the rehabilitation and development of the economy, are now accounting for a much greater part of the output of the local industry, which also keeps the population supplied with fabrics, clothes, salt and other key commodities.
State farms and agricultural co-operatives are making two bumper rice harvests, the country's chief crop. The area planted to maize, batatas, manioc, legumes and other crops, whose cultivation is less labour-intensive, is being enlarged. The production of vegetables and oil-bearing plants is increasing.
There are 26 institutions of higher learning, and over 130 vocational schools in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and a steadily increasing number of general education schools and medical institutions.
The working people are making every effort to fulfil the main task: safeguard the North, liberate the South and reunite the country.
87The working people of the republic are mustering all their strength and resources to safeguard the gains of socialism. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries are increasing their gratuitous assistance to fighting Vietnam.
Of great significance for the struggle of the Vietnamese people for their freedom and independence has been the formation in 1969 of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, which has already been recognised by many countries.
Korea was liberated in 1945 by the Soviet Army which expelled the Japanese colonialists from the country. Subsequently, however, as a result of the aggressive policy of the US imperialists who are supporting the reactionary circles in South Korea, the country was divided into two parts separated by the 38th parallel. Since then North Korea and South Korea have been advancing along different roads.
The Korean People's Democratic Republic was established in 1948 in North Korea where power was assumed by the people. In less than a quarter of a century the Korean People's Democratic Republic has become an advanced industrial-agrarian socialist state.
South Korea, where 60,000 US troops are stationed, is virtually a semi-colony of the United States.
Lying in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, the Korean People's Democratic Republic is bigger than South Korea but has a smaller population. The Korean People's Democratic Republic has an area of 121,000 sq. km. and 13 million inhabitants; South Korea has an area of 100,000 sq. km. and 30 million inhabitants.
Socialist Korea is an epoch ahead of South Korea in social and economic development, and is advancing at a truly unprecedented pace. Although the war of 1950--53, precipitated by the aggression of the US imperialists, greatly damaged its economy, the Korean People's Democratic Republic within a brief space of time rehabilitated and then rapidly boosted its economy.
The industrial output of socialist Korea increased more 88 than 20 times over the 1948 figure. The iron and steel, nonferrous, machine-tool and instrument-making, chemical and power engineering industries were built up virtually from scratch. The engineering industry now accounts for approximately 30 per cent of the gross industrial output.
Metallurgy, engineering and chemical industries are the key branches of the country's industry. Factories in Chongjin and Kim Chaek annually produce over 2.2 million tons of ferrous metals. Kom Dok, the country's biggest mine, is yielding increasing quantities of lead and zinc ore. The annual output of coal exceeds 27 million tons. Machinebuilding plants in Pyongyang, Wonsan and Hungnam manufacture machine-tools, apparatuses, motor vehicles, tractors, electric locomotives and various equipment. The Hungnam chemical factory turns out mineral fertiliser and many other types of chemical products.
The republic's power-supply base is expanding. New thermal and hydroelectric schemes are being built and put into operation. The hydroelectric stations on mountain rivers account for the bulk of the electricity generated in the country. Incidentally, the arms of the republic is a hydroelectric station surrounded by ears of rice.
Electrification, which is conducted simultaneously with mechanisation and irrigation, is raising the productivity of agriculture. The latter specialises in the production of rice and other grain crops whose annual harvest is approximately 5,000,000 tons. Animal husbandry is making good progress. Large vegetable farms are being established around the capital Pyongyang and other industrial centres.
The economic and cultural upsurge in the Korean People's Democratic Republic is taking place in conditions of unceasing provocations on the part of the South Korean reactionary circles and their American patrons.
China has the largest population in the world---over 700 million. Covering an area of about 10 million sq. km., China is almost as big as the whole of Europe and is second in size only to the Soviet Union.
89The Chinese people have contributed a great deal to the development of world culture, but in the past they themselves had no access to it. For a long period China was one of Asia's backward semi-feudal states, and for almost a century was an oppressed semi-colony of world imperialism.
Complex historical developments and national liberation movements undermined the foundations of the Chinese empire. The efforts of the Chinese people and their sacrifices in the struggle for a better future hastened the day of their liberation.
The victory of the people's revolution, which in 1949 resulted in the establishment of the Chinese People's Republic, was a matter of tremendous international significance. It meant that a country with the world's largest population had taken the road of socialist development. Inspiring prospects of socio-economic and cultural progress opened up before the Chinese people. With the establishment of the new social system China was able to begin the planned and effective utilisation of her colossal labour and natural resources in her own interests.
The territory of China may be likened to a giant triangle whose base faces the Pacific Ocean and the top ends at the Pamir Mountains. In the north and northwest China has common frontiers with three socialist states, the Korean People's Democratic Republic, the Mongolian People's Republic and the Soviet Union. In the south and southwest she borders on Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Burma and Laos and socialist Vietnam.
In view of the fact that China lies at the Pacific Ocean in the moderate, subtropical and tropical zones and is predominantly a mountainous and hilly country, she has a diversity of natural and climatic conditions. Figuratively speaking the west of China is an ocean of mountains and deserts. But there are also 100 million hectares of virgin lands suitable for cultivation in that part of the country. The flat eastern areas have the densest population. Here, in the basin of the great Chinese rivers, lie her biggest tracts of the fertile land which yield two or three harvests a year.
Though China's mineral resources have been little explored as yet, her proven reserves of mineral raw materials and fuel are large enough on the whole. Her coal reserves are estimated at 1,500,000 million tons and iron ore at 13,000 90 million tons. Fairly large oil deposits were discovered in the first years following the establishment of people's power. China's reserves of tungsten, tin, antimony, molybdenum and other raw materials are among the world's largest.
In just under a decade, from 1949 to 1958, the government carried out important socio-economic reforms: the property of the wealthy compradore bourgeoisie and foreign imperialists was nationalised and the private capitalist sector in industry and trade was transformed into the state-capitalist sector. The agrarian reform abolished feudal-landowner exploitation and the bulk of the farmers were united in socialist co-operatives. All these measures were the beginning of the end of China's age-old backwardness.
The socio-economic reforms which had stimulated the multi-million Chinese nation to creative activity were accompanied by progress in economic development. Her wardevastated industry was rehabilitated on a new technical basis.
Of decisive significance was the establishment of the foundations of a modern industry. Thousands of industrial projects were under construction throughout the country. The gross industrial product in 1960 was more than fifteen times greater than in 1949. China's share in world industrial production rose from 2 to 5 per cent, and as regards the output of some types of commodities, the figure was even higher.
The restoration and enlargement of the Anshang metallurgical plant and the construction of new factories in Wuhan and Paotow augmented the capacities of the iron and steel industry.
Non-ferrous industry also advanced. Besides producing copper, tin, lead, zinc, magnesium and tungsten, China for the first time launched the production of aluminium.
The fuel and power industry was enlarged and strengthened; the output of chemical fertiliser and cement rapidly increased and the foundations for the country's war industry were laid.
The geographic distribution of industry and the industrial pattern of the old Chinese cities were modified to a degree. Engineering works were built in Shanghai, China's biggest city and port (about 10 million inhabitants), and an old centre of the textile industry. The metallurgical and engineering industry of the capital Peking (about 8 million 91 inhabitants) was enlarged. The existing industrial capacities^ in Shenyang in the northeast, Tientsin in the north, Nanking in the east and Kwangchow in the south were supplemented with new ones.
Large iron and steel and heavy engineering plants were built in Wuhan. China's first automobile factory was erected in Changchun and her first tractor factory in Liaoyang. Oil refineries and petrochemical plants went up in the vicinity of Lanchow. A new large town Paotow arose around a new metallurgical plant and the town of Karamai was built near the oilfields in Sinkiang.
The output of rice, animal products and poultry-farming was gradually increasing.
The first results of the economic upsurge made it possible to raise the living standard in the country. Food consumption increased in town and country and the daily ration included more meat, butter, sugar and pastry. Millions of adults learned to read and write and tens of millions of children were attending school. The network of higher and secondary specialised schools was expanded and the training of personnel for the economy was conducted on a mounting scale.
The Soviet Union and other socialist countries rendered the Chinese People's Republic massive assistance in creating her economy and culture.
At China's request thousands of Soviet specialists were sent to work at her construction projects and enterprises. They furnished all-round and effective assistance in developing the country's socialist economy and culture and trained national personnel. More than 250 large enterprises, which became the cornerstone of new branches of industry, were built with the material and technical assistance of the Soviet Union.
Beginning with 1958 fundamental changes took place in China's domestic and foreign policy. At first, in 1958--60, the policy of the "great leap" was imposed on the country. And when nothing came of it the Chinese People's Republic in 1961--65 adopted a policy of ``regulating'' the economy. Without carrying it through to the end, the Chinese leaders embarked on a "cultural revolution''. This departure from the Leninist principles of socialist construction caused enormous harm to the country's economy.
92The construction of many industrial projects was temporarily suspended, the available capacities were not used to the full and production links in industry were seriously violated. Agriculture entered a period of great difficulties.
China's economic, scientific, technical and cultural relations with the socialist countries were sharply curtailed.
The Soviet Union and other socialist countries are consistently pursuing a policy of restoring goodneighbourly relations and friendship with the Chinese people. The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union emphasised that an improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the Chinese People's Republic would serve the fundamental, long-term interests of both countries, the interests of socialism, and would give further impetus to the anti-imperialist struggle.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Republic of CubaMan has never set eyes on a land more beautiful than Cuba, wrote Columbus who discovered her in 1492. He named a group of islands forming part of Cuba the Archipelago of the Queen's Gardens in honour of the Spanish queen.
Cuba occupies an archipelago of approximately 1,600 islands and islets whose total area is 115,000 sq. km. The Island of Cuba, the biggest of the group, has an area of 108,000 sq. km. (94 per cent of the total area of the republic).
The Island of Cuba extends for 1,200 kilometres from west to east and ranges in width from 40 to 160 kilometres. The republic's 3,500-kilometre-long shoreline is washed by the waters of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba occupies an extremely advantageous geographic position in the west of Central Atlantic, at the juncture of North and South America, in the centre of the busy sea routes which, passing through the Panama Canal, link the numerous countries of the Atlantic and Pacific basins.
The victory of the popular revolution in Cuba ushered in a qualitatively new stage in the revolutionary movement of the Latin American peoples.
93Having thrown off the yoke of colonial oppression, the Cuban people became full masters of their land and its natural wealth.
There are many mountains on the Island of Cuba: the Guaniguanico ranges in the west, Guamuaya in the centre and the Sierra Maestra with Mount Turquino, the highest peak in the country (1,600 metres), in the east.
She has a tropical climate with moderate trade winds and sea breezes. In the rainy season (May-October) Cuba is often hit by devastating tropical cyclones (hurricanes). In fighting them the working people of socialist Cuba display exemplary courage and a high level of organisation. During the dry season (November-April) the population dams rivers to store up water for the plantations and towns.
The island's river valleys, plains and lowlands have fertile soils favourable for farming. Valuable crops such as citruses (oranges and lemons), bananas, mangoes and sugar cane are cultivated.
Numerous types of useful minerals have been discovered in the country, including nickel ore whose deposits are estimated at 1,600 million tons and are among the biggest in the world. There are also considerable deposits of copper, iron and manganese, and lesser deposits of cobalt, tungsten, chromium and other minerals.
The Cuban nation, the present population of the country numbering over eight million, was formed in the process of historical development out of the local islanders, Indians, Spaniards, who settled on the islands at the close of the 15th century, African Negroes brought here by slavers and immigrants from the neighbouring Latin American countries and some European states.
Important social reforms have been carried out in the country. The exploiter classes have been abolished and millions of working people led by the working class have embarked on creative activity.
Agriculture is developing on a new social and technical basis. In place of former capitalist latifundias there are now hundreds of people's estates and specialised farms which have over 60 per cent of the country's farm lands at their disposal. Former leaseholders, metayers, small and middle peasants who received land as a result of the agrarian reform 94 are uniting into credit-and-supply and sales co-operatives. Through the National Association of Small Landowners the state is assisting the farmers with farm machines and fertiliser and is introducing the latest scientific and technological achievements into production.
Cuba's principal crop is sugar cane whose plantations cover more than 50 per cent of the country's cultivated area. Cane sugar is Cuba's chief product. Before the revolution sugar cane accounted for approximately 80 per cent of the gross national product. The development of other branches of the economy in socialist Cuba tends to decrease the share of sugar in her total output, but without diminishing the absolute volume of its production. On the contrary, after the revolution new lands were developed and irrigation and drainage canals were dug in order to increase the sugar cane harvest.
Other staple crops are tobacco and coffee. The world's finest tobacco is cultivated in Pinar del Rio Province in the west of the country. Coffee trees are grown in the east, in Oriente Province. The area under kenaf, henequen and other valuable industrial crops is being enlarged.
The area sown to rice, one of the principal items of domestic consumption, is being enlarged so as to make Cuba self-sufficient in food.
Animal husbandry is practised throughout the country which has extensive natural pastures. Special emphasis is placed on cattle-breeding in order to raise the production of meat, butter and milk. The cattle population will be increased to 10--12 million head, and the productivity of meat and milk husbandry is mounting.
Industry is developing at an ever greater rate and its branch structure is being improved. Thus far the sugar industry (over 150 sugar refineries) holds the leading place in the Cuban economy. Built before the revolution, they lag far behind modern standards. The Soviet Union is helping to reconstruct 114 of them. As a result there will be a rise in sugar output and higher productivity of labour. Engineering and chemical industries are beginning to play an important part in Cuba's economy.
The mining industry, whose output increased more than twofold in the first post-revolution decade, is developing rapidly.
95As industry advances measures are being taken to improve its geographic distribution. Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey and other towns are developing and other industrial centres are being created.
The capital Havana is Cuba's largest city. Greater Havana has a population of approximately two million. Pre-- revolutionary Havana was called "Latin American Paris" and in effect was a playground for wealthy Americans. Modern Havana is the country's industrial centre and major ocean port.
Cuba's economic development is being conducted with an eye to turning it into a highly-industrialised socialist state. A three-year development plan is being worked out for this purpose which will be followed by a five-year plan for 1975--1980. Efforts to boost the economy are taking place in complex domestic and external conditions. Coping with them is a long process and one which calls for the mobilisation of the efforts of all the Cuban people and the further strengthening of their friendship with the peoples of socialist countries.
[96] __ALPHA_LVL2__ CAPITALIST COUNTRIES __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]The world capitalist system draws its economic, political and military strength mainly from the USA, Japan, the United Kingdom, the FRG, France, Italy and other advanced capitalist countries, primarily Canada and the smaller West European states.
Possessing highly organised production apparatus the developed capitalist states, and above all the major imperialist powers, account for over 90 per cent of the industrial and about 50 per cent of the agricultural output of the capitalist world.
Indicative of the economic potential of the advanced capitalist states is the fact that the volume of their gross national product is equal to over 80 per cent of the gross product of the entire capitalist world. The advanced capitalist countries considerably surpass the developing countries in the absolute volume and in the per capita distribution of the national income. In 1970 the national income of the United States, Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany, Britain, France and Italy, which have a total population of 530 million, reached $ 990,000 million, while the national income of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Brazil, Mexico, Tanzania and the Congo (Kinshasa) with their total population of more than 860 million, was about $ 80,000 million.
It should also be borne in mind that in the capitalist countries a considerable portion of the national income is appropriated by the bourgeoisie and other exploiter classes that comprise an insignificant minority of the population.
__PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7---999 97Gold, which is mined in many developing countries, in the final count ends up in the strongrooms of the imperialist powers. Their total gold reserves in 1968 were ten times bigger than the gold reserves of the developing countries.
Thus, the gap between the advanced capitalist states and the majority of the developing countries is widening. Imperialism, with the major capitalist powers as its bulwark, is continuing to oppress many nations and is still a permanent threat to the cause of peace and social progress.
Striving at whatever the cost to weaken the positions of socialism, put down the national liberation movement of the peoples and suppress the struggle of the working people in capitalist countries, the imperialists are pooling their efforts and intensifying the activity of aggressive military-political blocs. One of their main objectives is to strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), their principal military bloc.
But there is an increasing discrepancy between the policy "from positions of strength" pursued by the United States and other imperialist powers, on the one hand, and the actual possibility of translating this anti-popular policy into reality. "Imperialism,'' the Main Document of the 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties points out, "can neither regain its lost historical initiative nor reverse world development.''
The major capitalist countries are beset by the most profound internal contradictions that are undermining capitalism as a system of social and national inequality, oppression and violence. The basic contradiction, that of between labour and capital, is deepening more rapidly than all the others. Though socialism's successes and the class struggle are forcing the capitalists into making certain social concessions to the working people, capitalism as a social system cannot rid society of poverty, unemployment and guarantee the working people a life free of the threat of war and uncertainty about their future.
The chronic creeping crisis on the domestic scene in the capitalist powers is characterised by periodic economic slumps and the growth of mass unemployment. There are 6-7 million registered unemployed in the advanced capitalist countries. The number of people without steady jobs or those who do part-time work is several times greater. A crisis has 98 also gripped the currency and financial system of the major capitalist states.
The law of the uneven economic and political development of the capitalist states formulated by Lenin is manifesting itself in increasing measure in the capitalist world.
The growing unevenness in the development of individual imperialist powers sharply aggravates internal and interimperialist contradictions. What goes on in the capitalist world today shows that the partitioning of spheres of influence, sales markets and raw materials sources, in the course of which the stronger and the richer countries get a bigger share, does not abolish rivalry, but, on the contrary, intensifies the struggle between the imperialist powers and also between their monopoly associations. International state-- monopoly organisations which are being established under the slogan of ``uniting'' and mitigating the problem of markets, are in effect, new forms of partitioning the world capitalist market.
Besides possessing common features, each capitalist country has its own distinctive characteristics. These are examined below.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ UNITED STATES OF AMERICAThe United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and the Federal District of Columbia. It has an area of 9,400,000 sq. km. and a population of over 206 million. The Caroline, Marianas and Marshall islands are under temporary US trusteeship. The United States has turned the Panama Canal Zone into an important military base.
The USA is also a colonial power which among other territories controls Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Samoa, Guam and a number of small islands in Oceania.
The USA is the economic and military citadel of modern capitalism, and its monopoly capital is the world's biggest exploiter. At the same time the US is the political and ideological centre of modern imperialism. Behind a facade of freedom and democracy, the USA is fulfilling the role of a world gendarme, the strangler of democratic freedoms at home and abroad.
__PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7* 99 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1972/EGW188/20070102/188.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2006.03.0) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [*]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+The USA is a realm of giant monopolies, a country which, in the words of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States Gus Hall, is on the crest of an unprecedented, mad avalanche of monopoly mergers. As large corporations swallow the smaller ones so-called conglomerates are formed. These conglomerates are giant monopoly associations determined to gain control over many branches of production and regions of the world.
The concentration of economic might in the hands of the monopolies and their coalescence with the state machinery have augmented the role of state-monopoly capitalism which is dominating all spheres of life in the country and particularly industry. Not more than 250 of the biggest US corporations control 70 per cent of the country's total industrial output.
Monopolies in the United States are much more powerful than those in other capitalist countries. Social contrasts in the United States are also much deeper than elsewhere in the capitalist world.
A handful of multi-millionaires, millionaires and other capitalists comprising a mere two per cent of the US population owns 50 per cent of the country's wealth. The bourgeoisie, which lolls in luxury, calls the USA a land of plenty. But according to official figures 22 million Americans live in extreme poverty in this, the richest country of the capitalist world. Actually, however, the US economists estimate that 40 per cent of the population are indigent.
Capitalist exploitation is mounting in the country. Oppressing 60 million workers, US capitalism annually derives $~100,000 million in profits from their exploitation.
The population of the United States, which has surpassed 205 million, is continuing to grow, and includes among other races over 25 million Afro-Americans, people of Negro origin, more than five million Mexicans, about a million Puerto Ricans and over 500,000 Indians.
Indians, the indigenous inhabitants of America, are living in extreme poverty in reservations where they are deprived of rights and all prospects for the future.
One of the lowest steps of the US social pyramid is occupied by Puerto Ricans and Americans of Mexican extraction, mostly itinerant agricultural workers.
Fifty per cent of the American Negroes, who make up 100 a tenth of the population, live in slums. There are twice as many unemployed Negroes as there are whites. A Negro gets a much smaller wage than a white person. Racial discrimination against Negroes exists in all spheres of life.
The United States has vast natural resources. The proven resources of coal surpass 125,000 million tons. Oil resources in the south and west of the country are estimated at 5,000 million tons. In the Great Lakes area, the Appalachi Mountains and other regions there are iron ore deposits estimated at 5,000 million tons. The mountainous states have large deposits of copper and complex ores, uranium and other nuclear raw materials, tungsten, molybdenum and nickel. At the same time the USA has to import chromium, manganese, cobalt and other minerals. US monopolies control the extraction of oil in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, uranium ores in Canada and the Congo (Kinshasa), and other sources of strategic raw materials in foreign countries. There are vast tracts of fertile land in the USA.
The US capitalism turned the devastating wars which drained the economies of the European countries into a source of profit and a means of intensifying their domination in the world. While the economy of the European belligerents declined in the Second World War, the US industries which supplied arms and ammunition to the overseas theatres of military operations, doubled their production. The profits of the US monopolies increased fourfold during the Second World War.
William Foster, a pronounced figure of the American and world working-class movement, wrote in his Outline Political History of the Americas that the enrichment of the US capitalists and the impoverishment of the majority of other countries as a result of wars has been the most important factor determining the growth of America's economic, financial and military strength.
Foreign scientists, whose influx to the United States sharply increased in the post-war period (over 5,000 a year), are augmenting the country's scientific and technological potential.
The present-day economy of the United States has an industrial structure whose principal link is a highly developed multibranch manufacturing and building industry, 101 yielding over 65 per cent of the national income. The service industry is coming to play an increasing role in the economy.
Manufacturing branches, whose rates of development are higher than those of the extractive industry, are predominant in the US industrial production. Heavy industry accounts for 60 per cent of the output of the manufacturing branches. Armaments production accounts for 25--35 per cent of the output of key industries. One out of every ten workers in the manufacturing industry produces armaments, in the electronic industry one out of three workers, and in the aircraft industry every other. Atomic power engineering is advancing.
The engineering industry, where over a third of the total number of industrial workers are employed, manufactures about a half of the metal-working equipment produced in the capitalist world. The electronic and electrical engineering industries have reached a high level of development in the post-war period. The production of equipment for atomic power stations is increasing.
The automobile industry, which produces up to 50 per cent of the total number of cars manufactured in the capitalist world, occupies a particularly important place alongside the production of railway equipment among the various branches of the US transport machine-building industry. Shipbuilding, especially the construction of warships, is also an advanced branch of production.
The US aircraft industry's capacities are much greater than the aggregate capacity of the British and West German aircraft factories. Nevertheless, more people are engaged in the production of missiles and space equipment.
Having moved into first place in the capitalist world prior to the Second World War, the US chemical industry has made further progress in the post-war period.
Metallurgy is one of the long-established branches of the US industry. Local resources of iron ore meet only 60 per cent of the requirements of the iron and steel factories, which import almost all the manganese, chromium and other alloy elements essential in making high-grade steels.
Oil and natural gas make up 70 per cent of the US fuel balance. Thermal power stations account for more than 80 per cent of the total amount of electricity produced, 102 with hydroelectric power stations yielding a relatively small share.
Industrial production, which is very unevenly distributed throughout the country, is concentrated mainly along the Atlantic coast and in the Great Lakes area. A 1,500-- kilometre-long industrial and urbanised strip extends along the Atlantic seaboard from Boston to Birmingham and includes such important industrial cities as New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In the Great Lakes area situated east of New York the chief industrial centres are Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo. The industrial importance of the states of Texas and Oklahoma (oil), Los Angeles (aircraft manufacturing) and San Francisco (shipbuilding) has increased considerably in recent years.
The share of agriculture in the creation of the national income is a tenth of that of industry and building. The greater part of agricultural production is concentrated at highly mechanised capitalist farms. Less than 5 per cent of the biggest farms own 50 per cent of the cultivated area and account for the bulk of the agricultural produce. The impoverishment of the small farmers is continuing in the United States and agricultural production is being to an ever greater extent concentrated at large capitalist farms.
Characteristic of the US agriculture is the high degree of regional and branch specialisation. The leading position is occupied by highly productive animal husbandry. Dairy cattle-breeding is developed in the Great Lakes area and in a number of eastern states. There are some 110 million head of cattle in the country. Sheep-breeding is carried on in the mountain West. Pig-breeding is concentrated in the vicinity of cities. Wheat is grown in the states bordering on Canada. The average annual wheat harvest is 40 million tons. Large areas are sown to corn (annual harvest up to 120 million tons). Cotton, tobacco and citrus fruit are cultivated in the south.
Transport is of decisive importance. Railways (total length of track in service 338,000 kilometres) handle the bulk of the internal freight turnover. There is also a ramified network of highways.
Internal waterways are extensively used. Shipping is particularly heavy on the Great Lakes and the waterways of the Mississippi basin.
103``The vast area of the United States, which is only slightly smaller than the whole of Europe,'' Lenin wrote, "and the great diversity of farming conditions in the various parts of the country make absolutely imperative a separate study of the major divisions, each with its peculiar economic status.'' Lenin said that the USA falls into three major economic regions: the industrial North, the former slaveowning South and the West, which was being colonised. These features of the economy and its distribution survive to the present day despite the serious changes that have taken place in the economy in the past half century. Economic development is characterised by acute rivalry between the powerful monopolies of the North, on the one hand, and the financial-industrial associations that have emerged in the South and West, on the other. Nevertheless, there are still considerable distinctions in the economic development of the North, South and West.
The North, as it has been in the past, is the chief and economically the most advanced region of the United States. Spreading over a third of the country it has over 50 per cent of her population and about two-thirds of her financial and industrial potential. It accounts for a half of the marketable agricultural produce of the United States.
The leading place in the North's industrial complex is occupied by the manufacturing industry, particularly mechanical engineering. Over 80 per cent of the aggregate steel output and about 50 per cent of the electricity are produced in the North. In agriculture key positions are held by cattlebreeding (meat and dairy products), fodder production (80 per cent of the total corn harvest), wheat and vegetables. The North also accounts for 66 per cent of the US foreign trade turnover.
In the economic respect the North is divided into two subregions: the Industrial East and the Northwest Centre.
The Industrial East (New England, the Middle Atlantic states and the Great Lakes area), which occupies less than half the area of the northern region, accounts for over 80 per cent of the latter's population and more than 90 per cent of its industrial output. The East has the country's principal industrial cities: New York which stands on the Atlantic coast is a major industrial centre (population 16 104 million with environs), an ocean port, and a railway, highway and air terminal. About a third of its gainfully employed population work in the trade and financial sphere. Next comes Chicago (population 7 million with environs), an extremely important industrial, commercial and financial centre of the Great Lakes area. Chicago iron and steel industry annually produces up to 30 million tons of steel. The city's engineering factories manufacture a variety of items ranging from powerful locomotives to electronic devices. Chicago with its famous meat-packing concerns is a great cattle market. Other important cities in the East are Boston, an industrial centre in New England, Philadelphia, the country's second largest ocean port, Baltimore, a metallurgical, rocket-building and shipbuilding centre.
In the vicinity of Niagara Falls stand Buffalo, a large industrial centre of the Great Lakes area, Cleveland, with its chemical, metallurgical and engineering industries and Detroit, famed for its automobile factories. Pittsburg on the slopes of the Appalachians is the traditional centre of mining and iron and steel industry.
The Northwest Centre is an industrial-agrarian extension of the East. This subregion lies between the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. Here corn and wheat are grown and cattle are reared for meat and dairying. The processing industry is concentrated in Minneapolis, Kansas City and St. Louis.
Almost equal in area to the North, the South is considerably behind it in economic development. The Second World War engendered industrial development in the South and now, besides producing oil, gas, coal and iron, it has a manufacturing industry. There are several important centres including Houston (oil refining), Wichita and Dallas (aircraft and rocket-building), and Aiken, Oak Ridge, Paducah and Amarillo (atomic industry).
Supplying the country with oil, natural gas, iron ore, coal and uranium, the South enables the manufacturing industries to increase their production. It is also an important agricultural region specialising in the cultivation of cotton and also early vegetables, fruits and citruses.
Washington, the capital (population about 3 million with environs), is coextensive with the District of Columbia which 105 is situated at the juncture of the North and the South of the country. About 50 per cent of the capital's gainfully employed population are officials of government institutions and over a third work in the service industry and commercial organisations. There are many colleges, research institutes and cultural institutions in the capital.
The West, though territorially the biggest portion of the country, has a lower population density and is economically less developed than other parts of the country. Mountains and deserts cover the greater part of its area. Economic activity is concentrated in river valleys, along transport routes and the coast.
Industrial and agricultural production is mainly located in the Pacific states where the bulk of the region's population resides.
California is economically the most developed state on the Pacific coast and in the whole of the West. It is not so much the oil and chemical industries, but aircraft and rocket production, that determine the actual industrial profile of post-war California. At present it accounts for 20 per cent of the total US armaments production.
Los Angeles (population over 7 million with environs) and San Diego are two of the biggest centres of war industry in California and the entire West. Hanford in the north has an atomic industry. San Francisco, the West's second biggest city after Los Angeles, is an important industrial centre and ocean port.
The mountainous states of the West cover an extensive area with occasional seats of the extractive industry, irrigated farming and pastoral cattle-breeding.
Thus, the United States, the world's biggest capitalist country, is also a land of extremely varied local conditions and the most acute social contrasts. The political and economic development of the USA is taking place in an involved internal and international situation.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ West European CapitalistThe emergence of the world socialist system deprived Britain, West Germany, France and Italy, the four major capitalist countries of Europe, of many of their former 106 positions on the continent. The sphere of their political and economic domination in Europe narrowed considerably. Nevertheless, taken together the European capitalist countries still occupy an important place in the world system of economy, accounting for approximately a third of the aggregate world industrial output. They have accumulated vast gold reserves and their share in world trade is greater than that of the United States. Formerly colonial powers, major West European countries still retain important positions in the economy of a number of developing states.
The United Kingdom is still a major imperialist power, and British imperialism is still a formidable economic, political and military force. But in recent years Britain has been losing her former positions and has indeed lost much of the power she had once wielded.
Britain was the first European country to take the road of capitalist development, and by the middle of the 19th century, due to a variety of causes, she was already claiming to be the "world's workshop" and the world's chief commercial power. By the beginning of the 20th century British colonial possessions accounted for a quarter of the world's territory and population. The seizure and plunder of colonies was one of the principal sources of Britain's wealth and power. In this field British colonialists had no equal.
But the First and particularly the Second World wars seriously undermined Britain's positions. She has long since relinquished her leading position in the capitalist world to a more powerful country, the United States, and now she has been pushed further into the background by Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany.
The disintegration of the British colonial empire was a serious blow to British capitalism. Profits derived from the exploitation of colonies declined. The country's revenues could not catch up with the colossal military expenditures arising from her participation in NATO and other aggressive imperialist blocs.
Britain's lag in industrial development lowered the ability 107 of British goods to compete on the world markets. Her share in the world export of manufactured goods diminished, and at the same time she began importing large amounts of diverse commodities. The British balance of payments became still more unfavourable.
The weakening of British imperialism is being accompanied by a further deepening of social contradictions in the country.
A powerful strike movement of the working people determined to improve their economic position is mounting in the British Isles and the popular struggle against the government's imperialist policy is growing in scope and scale.
The ruling circles are making desperate attempts to strengthen the country's shaken domestic and international positions. In particular they are doing their utmost to negotiate Britain's entry into the Common Market and thus strengthen her positions in Western Europe.
The United Kingdom is a relatively small, island state. In area (244,000 sq.km.) it is almost as big as the FRG, but is half the size of France. It has a population of 56 million which puts it in second place in Western Europe after the FRG.
In the historical, geographic and ethnographic respects the United Kingdom is not a homogeneous state. Scots, Welshmen, Irish and Ulstermen comprise 8,000,000 or oneseventh of its population. All of them speak English, but by no means all of them consider themselves English. The inhabitants of Ulster (Northern Ireland), which was forcibly annexed from Ireland and made part of the United Kingdom, are intensifying their struggle for national independence and reunification with their homeland.
Likewise dissimilar are the levels of economic development in individual parts of the country whose national outskirts are economically backward areas.
The United Kingdom is a capitalist state whose highly developed industry yields ten times as much national product as does its agriculture which can meet only 50 per cent of the domestic food requirements.
Britain's economy is largely dependent on foreign trade, since most of the industries manufacture goods for export. 108 At the same time the bulk of the industrial raw materials and large quantities of food are imported. For the volume of foreign trade turnover the United Kingdom ranks third after the United States and the FRG. The tonnage of her merchant marine is greater than that of the United States. Large quantities of cargo are carried by ships under the British flag plying the world ocean.
The role of state capital has sharply increased in Britain's post-war economy. It controls the railways and internal waterways, operates key branches of the fuel and power industry (coal, gas, electricity), enterprises of the armaments (including atomic) industry and the bulk of the capacities of the iron and steel industry. About a fifth of the country's industry has been nationalised in the interests of monopoly capital.
On the whole, however, key positions in the economy are in the hands of private capital. A hundred and eighty companies, of which 19 are among the 100 most influential monopolies of the capitalist world, dominate the British industry. The automobile, power, petrochemical and a number of other key industries are influenced by foreign, mainly US capital.
Peculiar to the structure of the British industry is the sharp preponderance of manufacturing which accounts for over 90 per cent of the gross industrial product. The mining industry is relatively small, since Britain, with the exception of coal (170,000 million tons), has small mineral resources.
Engineering is the leading and decisive industry which yields about a third of the total industrial output and accounts for 50 per cent of the value of British exports. But the comparatively high cost of the British engineering products prevents them from competing successfully on the world market.
Among the recently established branches the electrical engineering and the electronic industries have moved into leading positions. Their biggest customer is the Ministry of Defence. Aircraft production and other branches of engineering are working on orders of the same ministry. Another developed branch is transport machine-building.
Though the capacity of the British shipyards is smaller 109 than those of the United States, they have more orders and launch more ships.
The iron and steel industry which uses considerable amounts of imported raw materials annually produces up to 28 million tons of steel and in this respect ranks fourth among the capitalist countries with only the United States, Japan and the FRG being ahead. Copper, lead, zinc, and tin are produced also primarily from imported raw materials.
The chemical industry is a new and rapidly developing branch of the economy. Factories in Lancashire, South Wales and in other areas produce plastics, synthetic rubber, chemical fibre and other items.
Petrochemistry and oil refining are also developing. There are a score of refineries which annually distil over 100 million tons of crude oil shipped from the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Britain's textile industry which was the biggest in the world prior to the First World War, has been curtailing production in recent years.
Territorially industry is fairly evenly distributed throughout the country, but with varying degrees of concentration. In this respect an important place is occupied by Greater London (population 9 million)---capital of the United Kingdom, an industrial, commercial and financial centre and a world port.
Midland is the country's oldest centre of coal, metal and machine production. The industrial core of the region is Birmingham (transport and military machine-building); machine-building is the industrial specialisation of Coventry.
Other important industrial cities are Manchester (textile industry) in Lancashire, Sheffield in Yorkshire, Newcastle in North England and Glasgow in Scotland. Glasgow ( population about 2 million with environs), is the second biggest city in the United Kingdom and a major shipbuilding and engineering centre.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are industrially backward and depressed regions. The economic decline hits hard at the working people there and in the country as a whole.
110The Federal Republic of Germany is a country where state-monopoly capitalism has reached a high level of organisation. The economy of the FRG is based on the manufacturing and building industries, which create more than 90 per cent of the total value of the country's gross national product. Agriculture meets 75 per cent of the domestic food requirements and the rest is imported.
Concentration and centralisation of capital and the state's extensive participation in key industries are an important feature of the FRG economy. Though the economy is already largely militarised, the reactionary forces are steering a course of further expanding the armaments production.
Heavy industry is predominant. The coal, metallurgical, chemical, engineering and other branches of the heavy industry yield approximately 60 per cent of the total volume of industrial production. An important place in the industrial structure is occupied by the light and food industries manufacturing consumer goods for domestic consumption and particularly for export.
The diversified engineering industry accounts for about a third of the total industrial output and approximately a half of her manufactured exports. The leading role is played by metallurgical, power, transport and other metal-intensive branches of the machine-building industry which has reached a particularly high level of development in the Ruhr and in other regions.
The FRG turns out approximately 50 per cent less metalworking equipment than does the USA, but twice as much as Britain. At the same time the FRG has surpassed the USA by two times in the export of machine-tools, forge and press and other metal-working equipment, and has left Britain and other advanced capitalist countries far behind in this field.
Industries in the south of the FRG and in North RhineWestphalia specialise in the production of electrical engineering and electronic equipment. The FRG holds first place in the capitalist world for the export of electrical engineering equipment and ranks third after the USA and Japan for the export of electronic production.
111West Germany is a major automobile producer, and despite the competition of Japanese and other automobile firms, she exports more automobiles than any other capitalist country.
Aircraft construction is being revived and rocket production, which is also a branch of the armaments industry, is being organised in Munich, Nuremberg and other cities. Shipyards are building warships and ships for the merchant marine. Other European countries which build more ships are Britain and Sweden. The FRG has advanced textile, machine- and tractor-building industries and industries manufacturing equipment for the chemical and other branches of production.
The engineering industry and for that matter the economy of the FRG as a whole has a powerful iron and steel base. It produces more than 45 million tons of steel, or approximately 50 per cent of the aggregate steel output of the Common Market countries. The non-ferrous industry does not satisfy the country's requirements because of a shortage of raw materials.
West Germany's aggregate output of lignite and coal (over 200 million tons a year) is greater than that of Britain, but the latter produces more coal (112 million tons). The Ruhr has been and still is West Germany's principal source of coal. Though the annual oil output in the country does not exceed 8 million tons, the annual capacity of West Germany's oil refineries has surpassed 127 million tons. The bulk of oil which is refined in Hamburg, the Ruhr and other parts of the country is imported from the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. The weak spot of the FRG economy is the shortage of liquid fuel and many other raw materials.
Power engineering has attained a high level of development on the basis of local coals and imported oil products. The output of electricity in 1970 amounted to 240,000 million kwh. The construction of a system of atomic power stations not only augments the country's power potential but also promotes her military atomic power industry.
The chemical industry is a key branch of production. In the capitalist world the FRG ranks third after the USA and Japan for the production of plastics, chemical fibre and other basic types of chemical products.
112The territorial distribution of industry is extremely uneven: over 40 per cent of West Germany's industrial potential is concentrated in Rhine-Westphalia which occupies a seventh of the country's area. A particularly large number of industrial enterprises are concentrated in Essen, Dortmund, Diisseldorf, Duisburg, Wuppertal, Bochum and other cities in the Ruhr Basin.
In the maritime northern district, the most important city is Hamburg (population 2 million with environs). It is the country's biggest city and a major industrial centre and port. Other industrial centres in the north are Bremen and Hannover; in the southern part of the country Frankfort on the Main, Stuttgart, Munich and Nuremberg. There is no industry in Bonn, the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The militarisation of the West German economy is being accompanied by mounting activity of reactionary and revanchist forces.
France occupies a place of her own in the modern world. Being a leading capitalist country she is trying to get rid of the patronage of the US monopolies and is pursuing a realistic national foreign policy. France withdrew from NATO's military organisation and managed to have NATO staffs and military bases removed from her territory and, at the same time, remained a member of this aggressive bloc.
The establishment of mutually advantageous relations with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries has been an important step in the independent policy pursued by France's ruling circles. Soviet-French co-operation in the political, economic, scientific and technological and cultural spheres is expanding on a long-term basis.
One of the oldest world powers, France, over a hundred years ago was second only to Britain for the level of economic development. Modern France ranks fifth among the major capitalist countries, though territorially she is the biggest West European country (552,000 sq. km.) and has a population of 50.5 million.
Since the Second World War France's economy __PRINTERS_P_113_COMMENT__ 8---999 113 underwent substantial changes. The share of the heavy industry rose sharply and there has been a threefold increase in the volume of industrial production. Concentration of production and centralisation of capital have multiplied the power of the French monopolies. At the same time the state-monopoly sector has moved into important positions in the economy.
France is a highly advanced industrial and agrarian capitalist country. Her share in the world economy has increased. France yields approximately 5 per cent of the total volume of the industrial output of the capitalist world.
But as regards her overall economic potential, France is not only behind the USA, but also behind Japan, the FRG and Britain. They turn out a bigger volume of industrial production and export greater quantities of manufactured goods; they also have a higher level of concentration and specialisation of industrial and agricultural production.
Industry, building included, which is the foundation of France's economy, yields over 60 per cent of the national income. Manufactured articles account for about 50 per cent of the total value of the French exports. Heavy engineering is the key industry and important role is played by a highly developed consumer goods production.
The French industry has a good metal ore base. Iron and steel production is a major branch of the heavy industry. Mainly in Lorraine and partly in the north of the country iron and steel is smelted from local iron ore at factories using imported coke. France annually produces some 24 million tons of steel. A tenth of this amount is electric steel produced at electrometallurgical plants in central and southern France.
The favourable combination of rich deposits of bauxites and inexpensive hydroelectric power generated in the south of France has made it possible to raise the annual output of aluminium to 372,000 tons. Ranking third after the USA and Canada in the production of aluminium France shares this place with Japan, but is way ahead of the West European countries.
Mechanical engineering, the core of the French industry, is developing on a stable metallurgical base. Key positions are held by transport machine-building, electrical engineering and armaments industries. The French armaments industry makes strategic bombers, ballistic missiles, nuclear 114 weapons, atom-powered submarines and other types of weapons and military equipment.
The electrical engineering (electric traction machines, transformers and domestic electric appliances) are manufactured both for the home and foreign markets. There has been a marked increase in the production of electronic equipment, especially computors. The machine-building industry is now manufacturing equipment for atomic power stations in France and in a number of other countries.
Automobile factories are an important component of the transport machine-building industry. In this field of production France shares fifth place with Britain among the biggest automobile-producing capitalist countries. The nationalised enterprises of the Renault firm account for about 40 per cent of the output and export of French automobiles.
A major and long-established branch of the engineering industry is shipbuilding which is concentrated in Marseilles, Toulon, Bordeaux, Brest, Le Havre and other ports. For the volume of output the French aircraft industry ranks third after the USA and Britain in the capitalist world.
The chemical and petrochemical industries have moved into leading positions since the war. Besides turning out mineral fertiliser, acids and other conventional chemical products they are increasing the production of plastics, synthetic fibre and rubber. The production of medicines is also stepped up.
A weak link in France's industry, and the economy as a whole, is her limited fuel and power base. There are relatively small reserves of coal and its quality is low. The proven deposits of oil and natural gas are likewise small. France, therefore, is importing more oil, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, for her refineries which can process about 127 million tons of crude oil a year. France produces over 147,000 million kwh of electricity, most of which is generated by hydroelectric stations on the mountain rivers in the south of the country. In the field of atomic power engineering France holds a leading place in the world.
France has a highly developed agriculture and for the volume of marketable farm produce occupies third place in the capitalist world after the United States and Canada. Beef cattle-breeding and dairy farming are practised __PRINTERS_P_115_COMMENT__ 8* 115 throughout the country. France holds first place in capitalist Europe for the production of meat, milk, eggs, wheat (over 14 million tons a year) and sugar beet (approximately 18 million tons). The principal wheat-growing areas are the North Plain and the Aquitaine basin, most of the grapes are grown in Languedoc. No other country in the world produces such an amount of the finest grape wines.
A diversity of natural and economic conditions and the distinctive specialisation of some areas, makes it possible to divide France into a number of economic regions.
The Paris industrial-agrarian region, the historical core of the French state, is its principal industrial, transport and commercial and financial centre. Paris, the capital of France (population over 9 million), has a large number of engineering, chemical, armaments and light and food industry enterprises. Vladimir Lenin had lived and worked for a time in Paris, whose working class has long-standing revolutionary traditions.
Other highly developed industrial areas are the Northern Industrial Region with Lille as its centre and the Northeastern Industrial-Agrarian Region (metallurgical industry of Lorraine and the textile and chemical industries of Alsace). The Paris, Northern and Northeastern regions together occupying a quarter of the country's territory, account for a half of her population and 60 per cent of her industrial potential.
Industry and agriculture are highly developed in the Lyons or the Southeastern Industrial-Agrarian Region (centres Lyons and St. Etienne) and the Mediterranean AgrarianIndustrial Region. A prominent place in the agrarian Mediterranean region famed for its grapes and vegetables is occupied by Marseilles, a city with the second largest population in the country, an important industrial centre and France's largest port. The French Riviera is a European resort area.
The Massif Central (centre---Clermont-Ferrand), the Southwestern (Toulouse) and the Northwestern (Nantes) regions are economically less developed agrarian-industrial parts of France. The seaboard with the ports of Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest and Cherbourg is France's "Atlantic embankment''. The communications handling France's foreign economic ties take their beginning at these and other ports.
116France's foreign economic relations, just as the policy of her ruling circles, are directed towards strengthening her positions in the world. France still has colonies in some parts of Africa and Oceania.
On the domestic scene the monopolies are pursuing their offensive on the rights and interests of the working people. The working people are displaying growing unity of action in the class battles against state-monopoly capitalism, and the authority of the French Communist Party is mounting and asserting itself to an ever greater degree. The documents adopted at the 19th Party Congress in February 1970 stress that only a democratic economic reform, including the nationalisation of key industries and banks, coupled with other social measures can improve living standards of the French working people. The French Communist Party, a major political force, is guiding the people's struggle for an advanced democracy that will open the road to socialism for France.
Just a few decades ago Italy was an impoverished, backward country. The domination of agrarians in the economy and the lack of rich sources of mineral raw materials and fuel in the country retarded her industrial and economic development.
Nevertheless, the relative weakness of Italian imperialism did not in the least mean that it had moderate aggressive intentions. Writing about Italy Lenin noted that as far back as at the beginning of this century she had turned into a country that was oppressing other nations, a country of "a rude, repulsively reactionary and rapacious bourgeoisie''. It was this bourgeoisie that engendered fascism under which the aggressiveness and adventurism of the Italian militarism reached their apogee.
Infirm as they were Italy's positions in the system of imperialism became further weakened by her defeat in the Second World War, the loss of her North African colonies and the damage sustained by her economy in the war. Nevertheless, Italian monopolies, which had retained their power in the country thanks to the generous support of the US imperialism, not only restored, but also augmented their 117 economic potential. Today Italy which has an area of 302,000 sq. km. and a population of nearly 55 million occupies sixth place in the capitalist world for the volume of industrial production. The large monopolies and state associations holding key positions in the Italian economy are coming to play an increasingly important role in Western Europe and the capitalist world as a whole.
Italy's exports to capitalist countries include about 33 per cent of the total number of cars manufactured in the country, about 50 per cent of metal-cutting tools, a considerable number of tractors, diverse machines and other commodities.
Italian monopolies are investing both in the economy of the young independent countries of Africa and Latin America and into the industry of advanced West European countries, members of the Common Market. Italian monopoly capital is becoming ever more closely intertwined with West German and US capital.
The oil-refining and chemical production developing on imported oil and local natural gas have become the leading branches of the Italian industry. With machine-building as its core, the industrial production accounts for about a half of the total volume of the gross national product.
Machine-building specialises in the production of motor vehicles and motorcycles, machine-tools, engines and electrotechnical and other items. About 90 per cent of the total number of motor vehicles are made at the Fiat Works in Turin.
Italy has a large shipbuilding industry which is dominated by state-monopoly capital. The biggest shipyards are in Genoa. Other branches of the engineering industry manufacture locomotives, tractors, ball bearings, electrotechnical items and precision instruments. The aircraft industry is being restored with the assistance of West Germany.
Italy now produces over 16 million tons of steel compared to a mere 2 million in 1948. The annual output of aluminium is somewhere in the vicinity of 150,000 tons (Northern Italy), zinc---112,000 tons and lead---58,000 tons. Mercury, of which 2,000 tons are annually produced in Tuscany, and other non-ferrous metals are exported to the western countries.
Italy's mineral fuel resources are inadequate. In 1968 a mere 1.5 million tons of oil were produced, but the capacity 118 of her oil refineries has been increased to 162 million tons. Crude oil for the refineries of Genoa, Naples, Livorno, Bari, Spezia, Ancona and other ports is imported from the countries of Africa and the Middle East.
Italy gets her power supply from stations burning imported fuel and from hydroelectric and geothermal stations. Of the 117,000 million kwh of electricity that are annually produced 60 per cent is generated at hydroelectric and geothermal stations and the remainder at thermal stations burning gas or liquid fuel. There are operating atomic power stations and others are being built.
The output of plastics, chemical fibre, synthetic rubber and other chemical products is growing.
A considerable part of industrial production falls to the share of the textile industry, Italy's oldest. The food industry is slightly behind the textile industry in the value of output. Italy ranks second to France in the production of wine and second to Spain in the production of olive oil.
Prominent on Italy's economic map is the industrialagrarian Northern Region, the agrarian-industrial Central Region and the agrarian Southern Region.
Over two-thirds of the industrial proletariat are concentrated in the cities of the Northern Region which yields 75 per cent of the total output of hydroelectric power and ferrous metals, 66 per cent of the chemical goods and 80 per cent of the engineering output. Automobile factories are also located in that part of the country. The industrial triangle of Milan, Turin and Genoa is the region's economic bulwark. Milan is Italy's biggest industrial and commercial and financial centre; Turin is the second most important industrial city and Genoa is a city of shipbuilders and dock workers.
Rome, Italy's capital (population about 3 million), is situated in the central part of the country. The city's economy is connected primarily with industries catering to the population and numerous tourists. Rome, with its monuments of ancient culture, just as other Italian cities, attracts millions of foreign tourists making tourism one of the country's main sources of currency receipts.
The Vatican City State, the residence of the Pope and the world centre of the Roman Catholic Church, is situated in Rome. Through the Catholic Church the Vatican exerts 119 political influence on bourgeois states in Europe, America and other parts of the world.
The south of Italy, not counting Naples which is an engineering and oil-refining centre, is an impoverished, economically backward part of the country.
Farming, chiefly horticulture, viticulture and gardening, is the principal branch of agriculture. Wheat and corn are cultivated, but Italy does not grow enough cereals and therefore imports them. There is also a shortage of animal products. From 33 to 50 per cent less meat, milk and eggs are consumed in Italy than in other advanced European countries.
Over 50 per cent of the population are urban dwellers. Italian cities are famed for their magnificent monuments of ancient architecture created by the gifted Italian people and are known for striking social contrasts characteristic of capitalist society.
In few other West European countries have the workingclass movement and class battles attained such scope and intensity as in Italy.
Finland and the Scandinavian countries lie in the Basin of the North Atlantic Ocean, the shortest ocean route between Europe and America. Icelandic, Norwegian and Danish ports are important links in the system of North Atlantic communications linking the American and European continents.
Possessing a number of distinctive internal features, the countries of Northern Europe have much in common in the economic respect. All are advanced capitalist states in whose economy shipping, sea animal hunting and fishing are just as important as industry. For centuries closely connected with each other both economically and culturally, the peoples of these countries have a great deal in common as regards their ethnic composition and historical development, and certain features of a national character.
Finland is a land of forests, lakes and stone. Forests cover over two-thirds of her area, and lakes connected with each other by short rivers abounding in rapids occupy about a 120 tenth of her territory. Finland's hydroelectric-power resources are estimated at approximately 3 million kw. Vast timber resources are the country's greatest wealth. There are proven deposits of iron, copper and nickel ores, and also gold, lead, zinc and other metals.
More than 50 per cent of the population is concentrated in the southern part of the country. There is a preponderance of villages, particularly farmsteads. The cities are small and not very numerous. The biggest is Helsinki ( population over 530,000), the capital. Industrial workers comprise over 40 per cent of Finland's gainfully employed population.
Factory production and forestry account for about twothirds, and agriculture for an eighth, of the national income. A score of monopoly associations control the key branches of the economy which is largely working for export.
The leading position is occupied by the timber, woodworking and pulp and paper industries. Over 40 million cu.m. of timber are felled annually and are used in the production of saw-timber, plywood, furniture, takedown standard houses, cellulose and cardboard. The only capitalist countries which export a greater quantity of timber products are Canada and Sweden.
Engineering is geared mainly to the production of machines and plant for the woodworking industry. Shipbuilding concentrated in Helsinki and Turku is an important branch of the economy.
Yielding from three to four million tons of milk annually, Finland's highly developed dairy farming makes it possible to produce large quantities of butter and cheese. Farming does not fully meet the domestic food requirements.
Finland's policy of neutrality and her fruitful co-- operation with the Soviet Union in the political, economic and cultural spheres, ensures her security and is fully in line with the national interests of the population.
Sweden occupies first place in Northern Europe for size of territory (about 450,000 sq.km.) and population (more than 8 million), and the level of industrial development.
Accounting for 80 per cent of the national income, Sweden's advanced industry is her economic backbone. Agriculture is in a subordinate position. Large Swedish monopolies 121 are closely connected with other western monopoly associations.
Sweden exports about 90 per cent of her iron ore, 50 per cent of the output of the woodworking industry, and over 25 per cent of engineering production. The bulk of the trade is conducted with West European capitalist countries and also with the United States which exerts considerable influence on the Swedish economy.
Iron ore production is the largest exporting branch of Sweden's heavy industry. Rich deposits in Central and Northern Sweden (Kiruna and Gallivare) annually yield a large quantity of iron ore which is almost wholly exported to the western countries, primarily to West Germany and Britain.
The iron and steel factories of Central Sweden annually produce over five million tons of high-grade steel. Copper, aluminium, lead and other non-ferrous metals are produced in Central Sweden out of local and imported ores.
The capital Stockholm (population 800,000) is Sweden's biggest engineering centre. The output of electro-technical products, motor vehicles and centrifuges is concentrated in Stockholm and that of ball bearings and sea vessels in Goteborg. As a shipbuilding country Sweden ranks third in the world after Japan and West Germany. The production of motor vehicles, electronic computers and jet aircraft has been developing rapidly since the war.
For the volume of felled timber Sweden stands at the same level as Finland, and is third after the USA and Canada for the production of paper and cardboard. The production of sulphuric acid and other chemicals is closely connected with the pulp and paper industry.
Hydroelectric stations account for 96 per cent of the total amount of electricity generated in the country which annually produces over 60,000 million kwh of electricity. Oil and other mineral fuels are imported.
Agriculture is intensive and highly marketable. Sweden exports butter, cheese, bacon and imports necessary quantities of cereals, flour and other foodstuffs.
Norway is situated in the extreme northwest. Her coastline is edged with lofty cliffs and seamed with numerous deep and winding inlets (fjords) of the sea. Thanks to the warm Gulf Stream the seas washing the Norwegian coast 122 do not freeze. The most densely populated area is a narrow littoral lowland with a moderate ocean climate and numerous harbours.
Rural inhabitants, making up 50 per cent of the country's population, live for the most part on farms scattered throughout the lowlands. Norwegian cities, as those of the neighbouring Scandinavian countries, are small. Oslo, the capital, has 500,000 inhabitants.
The most important branches of the Norwegian economy are those manufacturing goods for export: the timber and pulp and paper industries, electro-metallurgy and shipbuilding. Norway depends greatly on imported raw materials.
The industry draws on the hydropower resources of the mountain rivers. Norway's hydroelectric power resources are the biggest in Western Europe and greater than those of the USA and Canada. Norwegian power stations generate about 60,000 million kwh a year which are used to promote power-intensive branches of production. Electrometallurgical factories manufacture high-grade steels, ferroalloys and non-ferrous metals, including aluminium (over 530,000 tons a year). Engineering consists primarily of electrotechnical enterprises.
The woodworking and pulp and paper industries which have an extensive raw materials base make large quantities of wood pulp, cellulose, paper and cardboard. A considerable part of the output, especially cellulose and paper, is exported.
Norway has one of the world's biggest fishing industry (annual output 2.6 million tons). Canned fish and herring are important items of export. She also accounts for approximately 40 per cent of the world whaling industry.
After the United States, Britain and Liberia, Norway has the fourth biggest merchant marine (including foreign ships on the Norwegian register) in the world. The tonnage of the Norwegian merchant marine is close on 20 million registered tons. Ninety per cent of the Norwegian merchant marine is chartered by other countries. The principal shipyards are in Oslo, Bergen and other ports.
Denmark, the smallest of the Scandinavian countries, occupies the peninsula of Jutland and approximately 500 islands in the Baltic straits. She also owns the Faroe Islands and Greenland (about 2.2 million sq. km.), the world's 123 biggest island. The territory of Denmark can be regarded as a sort of bridge between Central and Northern Europe. Denmark controls the important Dresund, Kattegat and Skagerrak straits connecting the Baltic Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.
Denmark occupies a rolling plain and has a temporate maritime climate. There is little mineral wealth and few forests. Most of the territory is either ploughland or meadows.
Beef cattle-breeding and dairy farming are key branches of the economy. Denmark annually produced over five million tons of milk, over a million tons of meat and up to 100,000 tons of eggs. Agriculture is in the main subordinated to animal husbandry, but cannot fully supply it with fodder. Therefore, in addition to cereals and cereal preparations she imports large quantities of concentrated fodder. The food industry produces tens of thousands of tons of butter, cheese, canned meat and milk products, beet sugar, canned fish and other foodstuffs, exporting a large part of them to Britain, the FRG and other capitalist countries.
The engineering industry manufactures equipment for the food industry. Shipbuilding (sea vessels) is highly developed. Industry, particularly metal-working and engineering, is concentrated in the capital Copenhagen (population 1.5 million with environs) and other cities.
Iceland, a former Danish colony, occupies an island of the same name. The inhabitants are descendants of Norsemen who had migrated from Scandinavia. About a third of the population lives in the capital Reykjavik (80,000 inhabitants). The principal branch of the economy is fishing and fish processing. The annual fish catch is 1.2 million tons. Iceland is a major exporter of fish and fish products.
Cattle and sheep are raised in the country, and fodder, grain and other foodstuffs and also industrial commodities are imported.
Though the combined area of the Central European capitalist countries is relatively small, their aggregate population is fairly big. Besides playing an important role in the 124 economy of Central Europe these countries are situated at the intersection of important international communications.
The Netherlands, a developed industrial-agrarian country, was until recently a major colonial power. Prior to the Second World War the total area of her colonies was 62 times as great as that of her own and their population was eight times as large as that of the Netherlands. Today her colonies comprise Surinam (or Dutch Guiana) in South America and also some of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean (The Netherlands West Indies).
More than a thousand kilometres of the Netherlands coast faces the North Sea. The mouths of the Rhine, Maas and Schelde lie within the territory of the Netherlands and are a natural outlet to the sea for the Central European states which are situated in their basins.
It is hard to overestimate the role played by shipping and foreign trade in the Dutch economy whose principal branches are a highly developed industry and intensive agriculture. The value of the industrial output is four times as great as that of agriculture.
Shipbuilding, electrical engineering, oil refining and food industries are the key branches of the Dutch industry which occupies a prominent place in world capitalist production. The Netherlands exports sea-going ships, turbines, generators, electric motors, communications equipment, radio and television equipment and household appliances.
The aircraft and automobile industries have considerable capacities. The chemical and petrochemical industries have been progressing in recent years.
The capital, Amsterdam (over 1 million inhabitants), is the principal industrial city, a European banking centre and a port. Rotterdam (the ocean gate of Western Europe) is a port of world importance and a major seat of industry.
The main trend in agriculture is the breeding of highly productive cattle. Butter and cheese are produced in quantities twice exceeding the country's domestic requirements. The sown area and cereal harvests are small, and grain and fodder are, therefore, imported.
A large merchant marine ensures the overseas economic ties of both the Netherlands and many other countries.
Belgium, just as the Netherlands, is conveniently located at the junction of Central Europe's international 125 communications. Belgium is a highly advanced industrial state, whose industry, unlike that of the Netherlands, is much more developed than agriculture. This particularly applies to the engineering industry, although the light and food industries are also highly developed. Belgian economy depends greatly on world markets and overseas raw materials sources. Almost all Belgian industries use imported raw materials, and 80 per cent of the manufactured output is exported.
In industry, which yields over 40 per cent of the gross national product, an important place is occupied by metallurgy whose annual production is over 11 million tons of pig iron and about 13 million tons of steel. Belgium is one of the largest producers of copper, zinc, cobalt and tin in Western Europe. Uranium, radium and other rare metals are imported from the developing countries and after being enriched are exported to world markets.
Among the branches of the machine-building industry the most highly developed are electrical engineering, and the production of mining, metallurgical and transportation equipment. A prominent place in the chemical industry is occupied by the production of mineral fertiliser. Imported raw materials are used by the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. Belgium specialises in diamond cutting and is the world's leading country in this field.
The capital, Brussels (over 1 million inhabitants) is a large city and one of the country's biggest machine-- building, commercial and communications centres. Antwerp is the principal sea port and an important transport hub. Liege is the centre of the Belgian coal basin, iron and steel production and heavy engineering.
Agriculture specialises primarily in beef cattle production and dairy farming for domestic consumption. Almost 50 per cent of the cereals consumed in the country is imported. The chief industrial crops are sugar beet, ilax, hops and tobacco.
Belgium has the world's most ramified road network. Internal waterways connect the country with the sea, and marine transport ensures her foreign economic ties.
The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg is a small Central European state. It has an area of only 2,600 sq. km. and a population of 336,000, of whom about 80,000 live in the capital Luxemburg. The country has a highly developed 126 industry in which the leading place is held by ore extraction and iron and steel production. Luxemburg annually produces about 6 million tons of steel, which is more than is smelted in Spain or Brazil. Animal husbandry yields the greater share of agricultural production. On the whole the economy depends greatly on the monopolies of the leading Common Market countries.
Over a hundred and fifty years have elapsed since Switzerland was guaranteed permanent neutrality. Its observance was largely instrumental in promoting the economic and cultural development of this country situated in the Alps. Transalpine railways and highways and also the Rhine link Switzerland with the countries of Western Europe.
Millions of tourists from all parts of the world annually come to Switzerland which is famed for its mountain resorts. But however important the tourist industry may be, it is modern industry that is the foundation of the country's economy. A very important role is played by the banking industry, the strongroom of world monopoly capital.
Lacking local raw materials, the Swiss industry specialises in high quality commodities whose production requires small quantities of materials but masterly skill. Machinebuilding enterprises use imported and partly local highgrade metals.
Switzerland makes more turbines, generators and other electrical equipment than does France, and exports as much equipment for metallurgical industries as Britain. She is the world's' biggest producer of watches (nearly 70 million a year).
Among the long-established branches of production a prominent place is occupied by the textile and aluminium industries. Using imported bauxites and cheap hydroelectric power, Switzerland annually produces over 70,000 tons of aluminium. Her highly developed chemical industry manufactures fertiliser, plastics, dyes and medicines. Powerful Swiss chemical concerns have their enterprises in many capitalist countries. The petrochemical industry is developing on the basis of imported crude oil processed at local refineries.
Swiss industry and the economy as a whole depends on electric power produced almost exclusively at hydroelectric 127 stations. The annual output of electricity exceeds 30,000 million kwh.
Industry is fairly evenly concentrated in the cities. Zurich, Baden, Geneva and Basel are the principal industrial centres. Bern, the capital, ranks third after Zurich and Basel in industrial importance. Vladimir Lenin lived and worked in Bern, which was once a centre of the Russian revolutionary emigrants.
Dairying is the main agricultural occupation. A part of the farm land is under orchards, vineyards and ^ vegetable gardens. But agriculture does not meet the country's requirements in foodstuffs and most of them are, therefore, imported.
Just as neighbouring Switzerland, Austria is a small mountainous country situated in the Eastern Alps and the Upper Danube basin. The rout of nazi Germany in the Second World War rid Austria of her anschluss with Germany and led to the revival of the Austrian state. Since 1955 the Republic of Austria is pursuing a policy of permanent neutrality which guarantees the development of her national economy and culture.
Austria's advanced industry accounts for 50 per cent of the national income. Her volume of industrial output is approximately the same as that of Belgium, the Netherlands or Sweden. In industry key positions are in the hands of state-monopoly capital.
Engineering, the principal branch of production, specialises in electrical goods and appliances, motor vehicles and tractors, and electrical engineering, mining and metallurgical equipment.
Austria has a developed iron and steel and non-ferrous industry. About 3 million tons of pig iron and almost 4 million tons of steel are annually produced from local raw materials. Austria produces more aluminium (over 100,000 tons a year) than Britain does. Other important branches of production are the chemical, timber and pulp and paper industries. The oil industry whose average annual output is approximately 3 million tons, meets Austria's domestic requirements in this commodity. The bulk of the electricity whose annual output is close to 30,000 million kwh, is generated by hydroelectric power stations.
Over 40 per cent of the industrial output is manufactured 128 at enterprises in Vienna (about 1.7 million inhabitants), the capital.
Agriculture, in which the leading role is played by beef cattle-breeding and dairying, almost fully provides the country with foodstuffs. Horticulture, viticulture and vegetable-growing are also widely practised.
Spain occupies about four-fifths of the Iberian Peninsula in the southwest of Europe. She is a large country rich in iron, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, uranium and other minerals. Her mercury deposits are the biggest in the capitalist world.
But for a long time now the backward social system and fascist dictatorship have been retarding her economic and cultural development. Only in recent years, primarily as a result of the increased inflow of foreign, chiefly US, capital into the country, her economy and above all industry have been showing signs of increased activity.
Spain is an industrial-agrarian country. Engineering is evolving into an independent branch of production where key positions are occupied by shipbuilding, automobile, aircraft and machine-tool industries. Spain annually produces over 7 million tons of steel, 97,000 tons of aluminium and over 3,000 tons of mercury. A part of the metallurgical output goes to meet the country's domestic needs, while mercury and some other metals are exported.
The oil-refining industry is developing on the basis of imported crude oil. Its output goes to promote petrochemical production. Power engineering uses local coals, of which some 13 million tons are mined annually, and imported mineral fuel. The annual output of electricity is close to 40,000 million kwh, which is less than is generated in either Sweden or Norway.
The capital, Madrid, and also Barselona, Bilbao and other cities are important industrial centres. Because of marketing difficulties the light and food industries are in a state of stagnation.
Agriculture is backward. The low productivity of farming and animal husbandry is due to the survivals of feudal __PRINTERS_P_129_COMMENT__ 9---999 129 relations and the low level of mechanisation. Spain, which is not selfsufficient in wheat, has extensive plantations of heatloving fruits, and exports large quantities of citrus fruits and olive oil.
Portugal, which occupies the smaller part of the Iberian Peninsula, and Greece in the Balkan Peninsula are economically backward countries. The bulk of their population is engaged in agriculture. Their extensive farming and cattle raising cannot meet even the modest requirements of the population in food. The industry consists largely of factories processing agricultural raw materials.
Portugal's distinguishing feature is that she is still a major colonial power. Her African colonies have a total area of more than 2 million sq. km. and an aggregate population of more than 13 million. Drawing on the assistance of the USA and other NATO countries in her efforts to put down the national liberation movement in Angola, Mozambique and other colonies, Portugal has herself fallen into great dependence on world imperialist powers.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ JapanJapan is the most advanced capitalist country in the East. Routed in the Second World War the Japanese economy was thrown back for many years, and her share in world capitalist production declined by almost 75 per cent. But since then the Japanese economy has made a tremendous leap forward and for rates of growth of industrial production Japan has surpassed other capitalist countries. In 1969 she moved into second place in the capitalist world for the value of the gross national product overtaking not only the FRG, but also Sweden, Britain, France and Italy.
An advanced industrial state Japan today ranks second after the USA in the capitalist world in such fields as the production of steel, nitrogen fertiliser, synthetic fibre, electricity, cement, paper, motor vehicles, TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, cine- and photo-cameras. She leads the world in shipbuilding and the production of radio sets. Japanese goods are sold in many countries into which Japanese capital is penetrating at an increasing rate.
130Unlike some other major capitalist countries Japan has scant mineral resources and depends greatly on imported industrial raw materials and fuel. How then did she manage not only to restore her economy but to bring it to such a high level of development?
Immediately after the war Japan sharply reduced her military expenditures. This had a favourable impact on her economy: she re-equipped her industrial enterprises and introduced the latest technology. All this was a factor of the scientific and technological progress and rapid economic growth characteristic of post-war Japan.
Another factor which has to be borne in mind is the avalanche of American industrial orders, of which the war orders alone for the aggressive war in Korea gave Japanese monopolies $ 2,400 million in profits.
Japan has great manpower resources. Her population of over 100 million is a major source of qualified personnel for all branches of the economy. The agrarian reform, which put an end to the survivals of feudal relations in the country, sharply accelerated Japan's industrial development.
In this respect an important role is also being played by the refined methods of social manoeuvring practised by the Japanese ruling circles. The bourgeoisie grants certain economic concessions to the working class and draws it into various forms of ``participation'' in profits and at the same time intensifies the exploitation of the working people. A Japanese worker still receives a sixth of the wage of an American worker. Wages differ sharply depending on the sex and age of the workers. Women get 50 per cent of the men's wages. Yet women make up a third of the hired workers in the country. Young workers get from 50 to 60 per cent less than the older ones for the same jobs.
Finally, a vast number of small and medium enterprises, employing about 60 per cent of the total number of workers who are subjected to particularly onerous exploitation, work on orders from the monopolies. Taken together all these factors enable the Japanese monopolies to rake in huge profits and expand production.
In view of the relatively low production costs and the high quality of the manufactured goods Japan is in a position to compete with increasing effectivity on world markets.
131Japan's large-scale modern industry is the basis of her economy. The value of industrial output is five times that of agriculture. Industry yields about 50 per cent of the gross national product.
The monopolies have restored and consolidated their dominating positions in the Japanese industry. Of the hundred greatest monopolies of the capitalist world ten are Japanese, the biggest being the financial-monopoly groups of Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, each with a turnover of over $ 1,000 million.
The concentration of production and centralisation of capital are accompanied by structural changes in the Japanese industry. The share of the manufacturing branches, especially heavy engineering, has risen markedly. Mechanical engineering has also made considerable progress, though its share in Japan's industrial production is still smaller than in other advanced capitalist countries.
Among the many branches of the Japanese machinebuilding industry the most important is shipbuilding. In terms of tonnage of launched ships (over 9 million gross registered tons a year) Japan builds twice as much as all other capitalist countries taken together.
In recent years the Japanese shipbuilding industry has been specialising in the construction of the world's biggest supertankers and other highly efficient vessels. About a third of the capacities of the shipbuilding industry is controlled by Mitsubishi. The biggest shipyards are situated in the port areas of Osaka-Kobe, Nagasaki and TokyoYokohama.
The Japanese automobile industry has moved to second place in the capitalist world after the United States. The products of the electrical engineering, electronic, and precision instrument-making industries are in great demand on world markets.
In view of the militarisation of the country which has been on the increase in recent years Japan is technically reequipping her aircraft industry and starting rocket production. The production of plutonium, which may be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, has been organised in the country.
Iron and steel production has become a key branch of the heavy industry. Using mainly imported raw materials Japan 132 is now smelting over 93 million tons of steel annually. This is almost three times as much as is produced in Britain. Japan's copper industry, her oldest, and aluminium industry, her newest, are also developing. There is a steady increase in the production of lead, zinc, nickel and other non-ferrous metals.
Oil refining, petrochemistry and to a considerable degree the power industry use imported oil. The refineries are capable of processing more than 185 million tons of crude oil imported from the USA, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Using the products of oil refining, Japan manufactures plastics, chemical fibre, synthetic rubber and mineral fertiliser.
As the fuel balance continues to improve the share of coal in it is diminishing and that of oil and gas is mounting. Japan annually produces about 290,000 million kwh of electricity, two-thirds of which is generated by thermal power stations and the rest by hydropower stations.
The volume of production of the light and food industries is increasing at a slower rate than that of the heavy industry. Fishing, Japan's traditional industry, annually supplies the country with 9 million tons of fish and sea animal products which together with rice constitute the basic food of the population.
Converted to the rails of capitalist development as a result of an agrarian reform, agriculture is beginning to employ modern farm machinery and fertiliser. Crop-- raising, the key branch of agriculture, specialises in the cultivation of rice (annual harvest over 14 million tons) and vegetables. Fruit-growing is conducted on a large scale on the southern islands. The lack of pastures and fodder retards the development of stock-breeding. Part of the animal and other products are imported.
Characteristic of the geography of Japan's economy is its extremely uneven distribution of production which is mainly concentrated in a limited number of towns and regions.
The most important is the industrial belt in the central part of Honshu. The largest industrial centres are situated along the southwestern coast of the island from Tokyo to Osaka. The capital Tokyo (population over 11 million) is Japan's cultural, scientific and industrial centre. Linked by a canal with Yokohama, it is a great port which handles 133 33 per cent of Japan's imports and 50 per cent of her exports.
A large industrial region embracing Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto has emerged in southwest Honshu. The region also includes Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the latter is on Kyushu island). Both cities had been destroyed by atom bombs during the war and have now been rehabilitated. There is a coal and metallurgical base in the north of Kyushu island.
In the northeastern part of Japan industry is developing in the north of Honshu island and on Hokkaido. The latter has substantial resources of useful minerals and hydroelectric power and holds out good prospects for industrial growth.
Japan figures prominently in the news not only because of her rapidly developing economy, but also because of the acute social problems that are facing her today. The increasing class polarisation, concentration of immense wealth in the hands of the monopolies which exploit tens of millions of working people, aggravates class contradictions and stimulates the growth of the strike movement. Holding second place in the capitalist world for the volume of the gross national product, Japan is in sixteenth place for the size of the national income per head of population.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ CanadaSeparated by thousands of kilometres Canada, in the northern hemisphere and the Commonwealth of Australia in the southern hemisphere, have much in common as regards their history, economy and culture.
Formerly, both Canada and Australia were British colonies which had been peopled and developed by settlers from Europe. Today both countries are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, a political association comprising the United Kingdom and former British possessions.
Formally British dominions, that is self-governing states with the Queen of England as their nominal head, Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia have long since been independent in their internal and foreign affairs. Both states have a highly developed capitalist economy.
134Canada occupies seventh place among capitalist countries for volume of industrial production. For the degree of concentration of production and centralisation of capital, level of science and technology and volume of production of key industries and agricultural commodities, Canada is approaching the major western powers.
At the same time she is greatly dependent on them, particularly on the United States. Suffice it to say that the USA owns 80 per cent of the foreign capital investments (an estimated $30,000 million) in Canada.
Thanks to her vast territory, which is equal to the whole of Europe, and an abundance of useful minerals, Canada has favourable conditions for economic development. A considerable part of the Canadian territory which lies in the zone of the tundra is economically difficult of access. But the south of the country has favourable physical and climatic conditions.
The leading place in Canada's industrial-agrarian complex is occupied by the heavy industry which uses local raw materials. Canada's highly productive agriculture constitutes an important part of the economy and has enabled her to become one of the greatest wheat producing capitalist countries.
Canada has an advanced extractive industry. Among the capitalist countries she is second to Sweden in the extraction of iron ore and surpasses many of them in the extraction of ores of non-ferrous and rare metals. In the capitalist world Canada is the biggest producer of nickel and zinc and ranks second in the production of uranium, cobalt and molybdenum.
Metalliferous ores are enriched at local factories and also exported. Canada annually produces over 10 million tons of steel, more than 900,000 tons of aluminium, approximately 500,000 tons of copper, about 400,000 tons of zinc, almost 200,000 tons of lead, and large quantities of nickel and other strategic metals. Oil production has reached 60 million tons and natural gas 63,900 million cu. m.
Canada generates about 180,000 million kwh of electricity, slightly less than the FRG. About 80 per cent of electric power is generated at hydroelectric stations. In recent years the tendency in the power industry is to increase the role of thermal power stations. Possessing rich uranium 135 deposits Canada is building up her own atomic power engineering. A large atomic power station is in operation in Douglas Point and a still more powerful station is under construction in the area of Toronto.
Engineering, one of the most developed branches of the manufacturing industry, specialises in the production of motor vehicles, diesel-electric locomotives and aircraft. Canadian shipyards build merchant and naval ships. There are also electrical engineering, electronics and other branches of the engineering industry.
The annual capacity of Canadian oil refineries has exceeded 65 million tons, and the chemical and petrochemical industries are increasing the production of polymers and mineral fertiliser.
The timber, woodworking and pulp and paper industries occupy a key position in Canada's industrial structure. Annually over 114 million cu. m. of timber are felled and a total of 18.5 million tons of paper and cardboard are manufactured. Paper, cardboard and other wood products are exported in large quantities.
Agricultural products are also key export items. Wheat, whose annual harvest is over 18 million tons (in 1968), is the chief export crop of Canadian agriculture. Stock-- breeding yields more than 50 per cent of the agricultural output.
Industry and agriculture are most developed in the southern part of Canada bordering on the USA.
The central economic region, which is contiguous with the industrial East of the USA, spreads along the shores of the Great Lakes and further east. Two-thirds of the country's population and industrial potential are concentrated in the southern parts of the Ontario and Quebec provinces. About a third of the total volume of manufactured output is produced in Montreal and Toronto. Other important industrial towns are Windsor, the principal seat of the automobile industry, and Blind River, which is the centre of the atomic industry.
The southern part of Canada's great plains extending west of Lake Superior is under wheat. The south of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta provinces is the country's chief granary, a large stock-breeding area and the principal source of agricultural products cultivated for export.
136 __ALPHA_LVL3__ CommonwealthThe greater part of the Commonwealth of Australia lies in tropical and subtropical zones of the southern hemisphere. Almost equal to Canada in area, Australia has a population half that of Canada. Australia occupies eighth place among the capitalist countries for volume of industrial production.
There are vast mineral resources in the country, and the annual production of lead, zinc and copper ores, bauxites, tungsten, cobalt, antimony, tantalum, uranium, beryllium, bismuth and other rare metals runs into hundreds of thousands of tons. The output of iron and manganese ores is mounting.
Iron and steel and non-ferrous metal production is an important branch of the manufacturing industry. The annual output of steel has reached seven million tons. Australia ranks second in the capitalist world for the production of lead and third for the production of zinc. Ores and metals account for approximately 10 per cent of Australian exports to the western countries.
The engineering, oil refining and chemical industries are yielding a growing share of the manufacturing industry output. Motor vehicles, machine-tools, instruments and diverse industrial and farm equipment are manufactured in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities.
Oil production is small, and the oil refineries in Australian ports distil imported crude oil. Local coal deposits and the hydropower resources of the rivers are the chief source of electricity (annual output close on 56,000 million kwh).
Australia's large capitalist farms specialise in beef cattlebreeding and grain growing. For the number of sheep, and the production and export of wool Australia holds first place in the world. Agriculture also includes dairy farming. A considerable part of the meat products, butter and cheese is exported.
Wheat is the stable crop. The annual harvest is close to 15 million tons, of which more than a half is exported. On the whole, agricultural production accounts for two-thirds of the total value of Australian exports. Cane sugar is also exported.
137The southeast, the principal economic region, is the most densely populated part of the country. It yields threequarters of the total agricultural and four-fifths of the industrial output. Sydney (population 2.6 million with environs) is Australia's biggest city, industrial centre and port. Newcastle has developed metallurgical, shipbuilding and other industries. Melbourne (population 2.3 million with environs) is a major industrial centre and port. Industrial production is small in Canberra, capital of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Other regions of Australia are her agrarian and raw materials appendages.
The indigenous Australians live in less developed regions. The capitalist social system has doomed the Australian aborigines to gradual extinction. Likewise onerous are the economic and social conditions in Papua and other Australian colonial possessions in Oceania.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Republic of South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa and Israel belong to the group of developed capitalist states. They lie far apart from each other, their histories are unlike. Yet they play an identical role in the capitalist world. Both are imperialism's strongholds, the Republic of South Africa on the African continent, Israel---in the Middle East.
The Republic of South Africa occupies the southernmost part of the African continent. It is a large capitalist state both in area (over 1.2 million sq. km.) and in population (21.3 million). The capital, Pretoria, has 550,000 inhabitants. The Republic was established on the basis of former British possessions.
The bourgeois government has instituted a reign of terror in the state and pursues a policy of apartheid. Numbering less than four million, European colonisers (English and 138 Afrikanders) oppress the non-white population comprising about 15 million Africans and two million people of Asian extraction.
All non-Europeans are deprived of political rights and are brutally exploited by the white minority. The reactionary ruling circles of South Africa also oppress the indigenous population of Namibia which they have illegally occupied.
The Republic of South Africa is an industrial-agrarian state whose economy is dominated by a powerful state-- monopoly sector and by foreign capital. Monopoly capital from the Federal Republic of Germany and other capitalist powers is penetrating deeper and deeper into the economy of the country.
Heavy industry, extractive and manufacturing, is the foundation of the economy.
Its mining industry supplies the capitalist market with key strategic raw and other materials. On an average the republic annually produces up to 1,000 tons of gold, over seven million carats of diamonds, 3,500 tons of uranium, 1,200,000 tons of chromite, 2,600,000 tons of manganese ore and also considerable quantities of copper, tin, antimony and other minerals a large part of which is exported to the USA, Western Europe and Japan.
The republic's iron and steel production (up to five million tons of steel annually), ferrous metallurgy, power industry (about 50,000 million kwh annually) and chemical industry are developing on the basis of its fuel and raw material resources. Its five oil refineries annually process more than 13 million tons of imported crude oil.
Engineering, shipbuilding in particular, is the leading industry, and armaments production is developing rapidly.
The major industrial centres are Johannesburg (1.3 million inhabitants) with the surrounding towns of Benoni, Springs, Germiston, Pretoria (metallurgical, engineering and chemical industries), Cape Town (shipbuilding), Durban, Port Elizabeth and some others.
The South African Republic is not self-sufficient in cereals, potatoes, and some animal products and has to import them. At the same time its capitalist farms are increasing the production of wool, fruits and other agricultural products which are exported to capitalist countries. Observing a United Nations resolution, the socialist countries 139 and many developing states do not trade with the Republic of South Africa, that stronghold of racialism and neocolonialism on the African continent.
Situated in the Middle East, the Israeli republic is an industrial-agrarian state. It has a population of about three million, of whom 300,000 are Arabs. The capital is Tel Aviv.
The territory of Israel, within the boundaries denned by the UNO decision of 1947 on the formation of a Jewish state, is 14,000 sq. km. Striving to enlarge the territory of the country "from the Euphrates to the Nile'', the Israeli ruling circles in the course of aggressive wars annexed first 7,000 sq. km. of land belonging to Arab Palestine and then occupied more than 60,000 sq. km. in Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Relying on the political, financial and military support of imperialist circles, Israel ignores the UN Security Council resolution of November 22, 1967 on the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from all occupied Arab territories. Enforcing a policy of annexation, the Israeli ruling circles are illegally developing the occupied Arab lands and resorting to brutal terror in an effort to assert their domination.
Israel's economy is geared to aggressive plans of seizing Arab territories. The principal branch is the manufacturing industry in which a prominent place is occupied by the light and food industries and diamond-polishing. Chemical, engineering, automobile, electrotechnical, and radio electronics industries, which are closely connected with arms production, are developing in the country.
The majority of the industrial enterprises are situated in Tel Aviv (population about 400,000), the port of Haifa (more than 200,000 inhabitants) and in several other towns. A weak side in the country's industry is the shortage of raw materials and fuel which are imported in large quantities.
Agriculture specialises in the production of citrus fruits. Wheat, rice and corn are also cultivated. There is also beef, cattle and particularly poultry farming. Nevertheless, Israel produces less than fifty per cent of her requirements in food.
140The continued militarisation of the country is undermining her economy and is leading to a decline in the material welfare of the population. Vast expenditures on armaments and the maintenance of the armed forces swell the foreign trade deficit and increase her dependence on foreign capital.
By helping Israel the imperialists and Zionist circles connected with them are endeavouring to use it as a weapon in their struggle against the progressive regimes in Egypt and Syria and as a bridgehead for re-establishing imperialist positions in the Middle East. The progressive public throughout the world is demanding the speediest elimination of the consequences of the Israeli aggression and is convinced that the Arab people supported by socialist countries and all peace-loving forces will frustrate imperialism's treacherous plans and that the cause of the progressive development of the peoples of the Arab East will triumph.
[141] __ALPHA_LVL2__ DEVELOPING COUNTRIES __ALPHA_LVL3__ [introduction.]Taken together the developing countries occupy an important place in the modern world. They cover over 68 per cent of the territory and have more than 72 per cent of the population of the capitalist world. These countries which, as Lenin put it, the colonialists had for centuries kept "out of history" have now ceased to be an object of politics and have turned into an active participant in politics. Fighting for national and social liberation, the peoples of the Asian, African and Latin American countries are one of the basic contingents of the world anti-imperialist front.
In recent years the peoples of countries that had cast off the colonial yoke have made definite headway in economic and cultural development.
The developing countries have considerable natural resources with which to build up their national industry. They possess more than 50 per cent of the capitalist world's resources of natural gas, over 60 per cent of its iron, about 70 per cent of its copper and nickel, more than 80 per cent of its oil, manganese and cobalt, 90 per cent of its tin and large reserves of other useful minerals. But all this mineral wealth, frequently indiscriminately worked by imperialist monopolies, is still yielding little benefit to the developing countries themselves.
For the volume of industrial production the developing countries occupy a modest place in the world. They account 142 for a mere 10 per cent of the aggregate industrial output of the capitalist states, and as regards the per capita output it is on the whole a tenth, and in some countries onetwentieth and even one twenty-fifth of that of the industrially advanced capitalist states.
At present the economy of the developing countries rests primarily on agriculture which yields from 50 to 90 per cent of their gross national product. In the majority of them agriculture is still dominated by obsolete agrarian relations and primitive farm methods. Agriculture is the most backward in some African countries.
The single-crop farming system, the domination of foreign capital and latifundistas in the plantation economy and of feudals and landowners in the local sector, are just a few of reasons of the slow rates of economic growth of the developing countries and the shortage of food which they are experiencing. While the food requirements in these countries rise 6 per cent a year, the annual growth rate of locally produced foodstuffs is not greater than 3 per cent.
Many developing countries, particularly the young independent African and Asian states, are increasing grain imports in a not very successful attempt to solve the food problem. The majority of the working people are underfed or nearly starve despite the fact that most of the developing countries have favourable natural conditions and the possibility of not only supplying the population with food but also of producing a surplus of it.
The social structure of these countries mirrors their economic backwardness. An overwhelming majority of the people are peasants. In some countries there is a fairly large stratum of seasonal workers---semi-peasants and semi-- proletarians.
The working class has not yet been formed in most of the developing African and Asian countries which lack largescale industry. But as industry grows so does the number of workers. They became better organised and the working class increases its struggle against imperialism and local reaction.
The consolidation of the developing states is accompanied by increased social differentiation and intensification of internal social clashes. This, above all, is manifested in the mounting struggle between imperialism and the pro-imperialist 143 internal reaction, on the one hand, and the working class, the peasantry, all patriotic forces striving to achieve greater political independence, overcome economic backwardness and promote social progress, on the other.
Involved as they are, the social problems confronting the developing countries are further aggravated by the tribal, national and religious heterogeneity of their population.
The national question is all the more complicated because in many young independent countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, the withdrawing colonialists left behind arbitrary frontiers that do not correspond to zones of settlement of the peoples. This handicaps their reunification, retards their cultural and social development and precipitates frequent border disputes.
Another serious impediment to economic and social progress is that many young independent states are still dependent on foreign monopoly capital.
To supplement their economic offensive the neo-- colonialists are undertaking aggressive military actions against the national-liberation movement: the criminal war waged by the United States in Vietnam, the US assistance to the Israeli aggression against Arab countries, the organisation of counter-revolutionary coups in a number of emergent countries and numerous other imperialist provocations.
The Main Document of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties held in Moscow in 1969 pointed out: "In its struggle against the national liberation movement, imperialism stubbornly defends the remnants of the colonial system, on the one hand, and, on the other, uses methods of neocolonialism in an effort to prevent the economic and social advance of developing states, of countries which have won national sovereignty. To this end it supports reactionary circles, retards the abolition of the most backward social structures and tries to obstruct progress along the road to socialism or along the road of progressive non-capitalist development, which can open the way to socialism.''
There is mounting awareness of the danger of neocolonialism and imperialism in the young independent states. It is becoming more and more obvious to genuine fighters for peace and progress in these countries that in order to safeguard their national interests it is of the utmost importance to 144 establish a firm alliance of the working class and the peasantry, of all anti-imperialist forces.
A very important role in marshalling the progressive forces for the struggle against imperialism is played by their revolutionary-democratic parties. The establishment of close ties between the fighters for national liberation and the Communist Parties, the consolidation of the revolutionary alliance of the young national states and the countries of the socialist community, are an earnest of the successful struggle against imperialism for the progressive social development of the liberated countries.
The majority of the young independent states have entered a phase of struggle for social progress and economic emancipation without which, as Lenin had pointed out, no national freedom can be complete. Criticising the apologists of capitalism, Lenin noted that they "are talking of national liberation ... leaving out economic liberation. Yet in reality it is the latter that is the chief thing.''
To establish a national economy based on modern industry and technology and raise cultural standard and material welfare of the people, it is absolutely necessary to carry out deep-going socio-economic reforms.
It is of the utmost importance to effect democratic agrarian reforms, remove the obsolete feudal and pre-feudal relations, put an end to the domination of foreign monopolies, democratise social and political life, revive national culture and further develop its progressive traditions, consolidate revolutionary parties and establish them in countries which do not have them. Only genuinely revolutionary transformations will enable the developing countries to assert their newlywon independence and confidently advance along the road of economic and social progress.
Now that liquidation of backwardness and social inequality is the basic task of the developing countries, the crucial issue is the choice of the road of social progress. The weakening of imperialism and the strengthening of the world socialist system open up before the liberated countries a new prospect of overcoming age-old backwardness and achieving economic independence along the non-capitalist road of development.
Non-capitalist development that a number of young states have chosen, is a path, which, as the Main Document of the __PRINTERS_P_145_COMMENT__ 10---999 145 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties stresses, ensures the possibility of overcoming backwardness inherited from the colonial past and creating conditions for the transition to the path of socialist development. No difficulties can belittle the significance of the main fact: a principally new trend in the development of the liberated countries has been made and their example will show more fully the advantages of the non-capitalist path.
Important socio-economic changes have taken place in those developing countries which are orientated towards socialism. The land which was owned by feudal lords and foreign planters, has as a rule been confiscated and turned over to those who till it. Peasants are encouraged to unite in agricultural co-operatives. The state sector is being strengthened. These countries gradually carry out industrialisation and achieve a general upsurge of the economy and consistently expand their economic, scientific and technological and cultural co-operation with socialist countries.
Developing countries are by no means homogeneous and the majority of them are in Asia and Africa. There are more than a hundred young independent states and colonies on the vast territory extending from the African coast of the Atlantic Ocean to and including the Pacific islands. They cover an area of 46 million sq. km. and have a total population of about 1,400 million, or more than 80 per cent of the aggregate population of all the developing countries. But the Asian and African countries account for only about a half of the total volume of industrial production of the developing states.
The Latin American states are comparatively more advanced in the economic respect. Having a smaller population they yield a greater share of the industrial production of the developing countries.
146 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Latin AmericanThere are more than 20 developing countries in Latin America. Together with colonial countries and territories they occupy approximately 23 million sq. km. and have a total population of more than 284 million.
Area and Population of Some Latin American Countries Area (sq. km.) Population All Latin American coun-- tries 22,800,000 284,000,000 of which: Mexico 2,000,000 50,700,000 Argentina 2,800,000 24,300,000 Brazil 8,500,000 95,200,000 Venezuela 900,000 10,400,000 Columbia 1,100,000 21,100,000 Peru 1,300,000 13,600,000 Chile 760,000 10,000,000The majority of the population of the Latin American countries speak either Spanish or Portuguese. Approximately a tenth of the population are indigenous inhabitants of Latin America and speak Indian languages. The non-assimilated European settlers use their native languages.
Latin American countries won political independence as far back as the beginning of the 19th century. But having become formally sovereign, they soon fell into great economic dependence on the West European imperialist powers and then on US monopoly capital.
Latin America has great natural wealth. It is particularly rich in mineral raw materials and occupies the first or one of the first places in the capitalist world for the production of a score of the most valuable raw materials such as niobium, tantalum, antimony, beryllium, iron and manganese. Venezuela, Argentina and a number of other Latin American countries have approximately a tenth of the proven deposits __PRINTERS_P_147_COMMENT__ 10* 147 of oil and gas of the capitalist world. Latin America is one of the world's greatest sources of gold, silver, platinum, rareearth and trace elements, uranium ores and non-metallic minerals. Nowhere else are there such vast reserves of redwood, eucaliptus and other valuable species of trees as in the tropical forests of South America (Amazon basin).
Having the world's highest population growth rate, Latin American countries possess large manpower resources. Their gainfully employed population is estimated at over 80 million, of which 50 million are industrial, office and other wage workers. Imperialist domination and the still widespread survivals of feudalism are engendering a steady growth of a reserve army of labour in Latin American countries. The number of unemployed, who now account for a tenth of the total able-bodied population, is steadily mounting.
The militarisation of some Latin American states is increasing under the pressure and with the support of the US imperialist circles which are also instrumental in foisting military-dictatorial regimes on them. In the past 150 years there were over 500 government coups in Latin America, of which seventy took place in the post-war period.
Determined at whatever the cost to preserve and consolidate their sway in Latin American countries the United States is using the Organisation of American States (OAS) established in 1948 to achieve this objective. Having subjected the OAS to their influence the US ruling circles are trying to turn this organisation into a military-political bloc similar in character to that of the aggressive North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The Pentagon-designed plan for establishing inter-American armed forces under the OAS is also being put forward out of aggressive considerations.
Nevertheless, the aggressive policy of US imperialism in Latin America is coming up against mounting opposition and resistance on the part of its peoples. The national consciousness of the masses is awakening in all countries of the continent: their revolutionary spirit is strengthening and they are extending the front of struggle against foreign and local monopolies and the latifundistas.
The Government of the National Unity Front that came to power in Chile in 1970 has advanced a programme designed to ensure her independence and progress. In Latin American countries an increasing number of foreign-owned 148 enterprises is being taken over by the government or transferred to the national companies. More and more Latin American countries are establishing diplomatic and trade relations with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
In the post-war years there has been a marked growth in the volume of the national income and industrial production of the Latin American countries, and their economic potential has grown considerably. Today the Latin American countries whose total population is equal to a sixth of the population of all the developing states account for 50 per cent of the latters' industrial output. At the same time the per capita national income of the Latin American countries is a third of that of the West European states and an eighth of that of the United States.
The dominating position in the industry of Latin America is held by the extractive branches supplying the principal capitalist states with a variety of mineral raw materials. Their extraction is, as a rule, controlled by foreign, primarily US, monopolies.
Foreign capital is also striving to move into command positions in the manufacturing industry which is taking shape in the advanced Latin American countries. In Argentina, Brazil and Mexico where US investments are especially large, the greater part of them have been channelled into the engineering, electrical engineering, chemical and other manufacturing industries.
The single-crop farming, the domination of the latifundistas and foreign companies, and the archaic agrarian relations are mainly responsible for the stagnation and backwardness of agriculture, the poverty of the rural population and shortage of food in the Latin American countries. To this day the per capita production of food in these countries is much lower than in other capitalist states. The solution of the agrarian problem in the Latin American countries and the introduction of other fundamental reforms are an essential precondition of their economic and cultural development.
Alongside features common to all of Latin America, there are distinctive characteristics determining the place and the role of each country of this part of the world. The level of the socio-economic development is the highest in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina which together account for approximately 75 per cent of the total volume of industrial 149 production of Latin America. Relatively advanced countries are Columbia, Uruguay and Chile. Many other Latin American states are considerably behind them.
Mexico (United States of Mexico) occupies the southwestern part of the continent of North America. Mexico City (over 6 million inhabitants), the capital, is situated in the Federal District of Mexico.
Thanks to relatively high and stable rates of post-war industrial development Mexico is gradually turning into an industrial-agrarian country whose industrial production is already yielding about a third of the gross national product. In addition to the mining industry which produces oil, sulphur, silver (first place in the world), iron, non-ferrous metals and other items of export, Mexico is building up metallurgical, aircraft, automobile, electronics and other manufacturing industries. The chemical and petrochemical industry is developing on the basis of a steady growth in the production of oil (25 million tons a year) and natural gas (over 16,000 million cu.m.). A factor promoting the growth of the industry and the economy as a whole is that a relatively large share of the economy (oil, power engineering, a part of the metallurgical and other industries) are controlled by the state.
Agriculture lags far behind the industry. The staple crops (corn, beans, wheat and rice) are sold on the domestic market, while coffee, cotton, sugar cane, bananas, oranges and pineapples are exported. To raise its productivity agriculture is being supplied with increasing quantities of mineral fertiliser. The irrigated area is being gradually enlarged, and a land reform is being carried out, although a third of the peasants are still without plots of their own.
The Republic of Venezuela is situated in the north of South America. Two-thirds of her population reside in towns, of which the capital, Caracas (population 2 million with environs) is the biggest.
150The oil industry established on the basis of the biggest oil deposits (estimated total reserves 2,200 million tons) in South America is the core of Venezuelan industry. For the production of oil (up to 190 million tons annually) Venezuela ranks second after the United States in the capitalist world, and first for the amount of oil exported. Over nine-tenths of the value of Venezuelan exports and about a third of the gross national product are yielded by the oil industry which accounts for only about 1.5 per cent of the country's gainfully employed population.
US capital occupies key positions in this crucial branch of the economy, and also controls iron-ore production and other branches of the developing Venezuelan industry, including oil-refining, petrochemical, metallurgical, textile and food industries.
An agrarian reform has been initiated after the war, but large private estates are still predominant in agriculture. About 80 per cent of the cultivated area belongs to a handful of latifundistas who are exploiting the tenants and farm labourers. Venezuela produces both industrial (tabacco, cotton, sugar cane) and food crops (coffee, cocoa beans, bananas and corn), which are grown in most equatorial countries.
The Republic of Peru whose people have launched a struggle against US imperialism is called a land of profound changes. The capital, Lima, has about 3 million inhabitants. Situated in the zone of tropics and subtropics in the west of the South American continent, Peru is a country of sharp natural contrasts and difficult history. High mountain ranges frequently capped with glaciers and cleft with deep canyons, in places come right up to a narrow and arid coastal plain, or descend in numerous spurs towards the Amazon lowland in the northwest. Nature has not been too generous to the Peruvians.
Peru has large proven deposits of oil, copper, iron, lead, zinc, bismuth, gold, mercury, tungsten, uranium and other minerals. The extraction of many of them is still controlled by US monopolies, but the foundations for a national mining industry are being laid.
151Manufacturing is weakly developed and its chief branches are the chemical industry and the production of fish meal. Steps are being taken to develop the metallurgical, engineering, textile, food and other manufacturing industries which use local mineral and agricultural raw materials.
The current agrarian reform will be decisive in boosting agriculture and the economy as a whole.
Prior to 1968 latifundistas, who comprised but one per cent of the total number of landowners, owned an estimated 80 per cent of the cultivated area. Now land is being transferred to small tenants from among metayer Indians, to farm labourers and to all those who till it. The government is encouraging the transformation of peasant communities into co-operatives. Changes are taking place in the sphere of banking and credits, communications and transport and other branches of the Peruvian economy. The diverse forms of feudal exploitation which are still in evidence are being abolished. Generally speaking, all the current changes are anti-feudal and anti-imperialist in character and are directed against the domination of the oligarchy.
Bolivia is a landlocked state. Her chief topographical feature is a great central plateau. The country's political centre La Paz is situated at an altitude of over 3,000 metres above sea level. The high Andes with their arid western and humid eastern slopes occupy a part of the territory. The eastern part of Bolivia consists of plains with a hot climate, tropical forests and pastures in the savannas.
Bolivia is a typically Indian country, even more so than Peru: over two-thirds of the population are Indians, the indigenous inhabitants, whom the Spanish conquistadors had enslaved in the beginning of the 16th century.
Established almost 150 years ago, Bolivia has witnessed over 180 military coups: presidents came and went but Bolivia's economic backwardness and dependence on foreign capital persisted and even increased. The standard of living of the majority of the population is no higher than several centuries ago.
152Life itself dictates the need for socio-economic reforms. In 1970 a new government came to power which announced the liberation of Bolivia from foreign dependence and improvement of the living standard as its prime objectives.
Industry and building yield approximately a third of the national income. Mining is its most developed branch. Bolivia is the world's biggest producer and exporter of tin. Agriculture, the occupation of more than two-thirds of the population, cannot meet the country's food requirements.
Situated in the eastern and central parts of South America, modern Brazil is the most extensive Latin American state. She is also the richest in natural resources. Brazil covers approximately a half of the South American continent and has about half its population. Her Atlantic coast extends for thousands of kilometres and she owns a number of Atlantic islands.
The world's biggest Amazon lowland in the northwest of Brazil is covered by tropical forest which is the home of rubber trees and a great source of mahogany and other valuable species of timber. The Amazon carries its waters for thousands of kilometres through the lowland to the Atlantic.
The Amazon and its tributaries flow through a huge and sparsely populated region called Amazonas. Here, there are millions of square kilometres of reddish soil, a vast realm of water and trees; floating islands; and an almost colourless river as vast as a sea.
Occupying the central and southern parts of the country, the Brazilian Highland has the capitalist world's biggest iron-ore resources and rich deposits of bauxites, manganese, chromium, nickel, gold, zirconium, beryllium, titanium, oil, graphite, diamonds and other minerals which have not yet been fully explored. Despite her wealth of natural resources, Brazil, according to the Brazilians themselves, still resembles a pauper who is sitting on a heap of gold, but is unable to use it.
Since the end of the Second World War the Brazilian industry has been developing at a comparatively faster pace 153 than her agriculture. The greatest headway has been registered in the mining industry which exports most of the extracted iron ore, manganese, chromium and rare and nonferrous metals. Producing up to 12 million tons of oil a year, Brazil is able to meet 50 per cent of her requirements in liquid fuel.
Other developing branches are power engineering (about 45,000 million kwh annually), iron and steel (over 4 million tons of steel), engineering (motor vehicles, ships, electrotechnical and other products), chemical, light and food industries. Some industrial enterprises belong to the state, but thus far dominating positions in the Brazilian industry are held by foreign, mainly US capital, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total foreign investments in the Brazilian economy.
Agriculture, the occupation of 50 per cent of the population, yields 40 per cent of the world coffee, the principal item of export. Cocoa beans, cotton, sugar cane, bananas, pineapples, tobacco and other export crops are also cultivated. Brazil is not self-sufficient in foodstuffs and imports wheat from neighbouring Argentina and the United States.
The backwardness and the low productivity of Brazilian agriculture are due to its export orientation and the existence of landed estates. Wealthy latifundistas own one-half of the cultivated area, while the large rural population has only small plots or none at all. Impoverished Brazilian peasants are swelling the army of the unemployed in the cities.
Brazilian cities are developing rapidly and account for about 50 per cent of the total population. The biggest cities are Sao Paulo (7.7 million inhabitants), Rio de Janeiro (over 4 million), Recife, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre, each with more than a million inhabitants. The new capital, Brasilia, founded in 1961 has almost 400,000 inhabitants.
The position of urban and rural workers is extremely hard. Brazil, as was pointed out at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in 1969, is now oppressed by a dictatorial military pro-imperialist regime which suppresses the progressive aspirations of the people and has placed the country at the service of US imperialism. Nevertheless, revolutionary forces are gathering strength among 154 the working class and other social strata fighting for democratic rights and freedom of the Brazilian people and for social and economic progress that will turn Brazil into a flourishing country.
Argentina is a federal republic. Its capital Buenos Aires with environs has a population of over 7 million. Though smaller in area than neighbouring Brazil, the Argentine Republic surpasses her in the level of economic development. The production of cereals and beef (nine-tenths of the value of exported commodities) is the foundation of the Argentine economy.
Agriculture, which specialises in the cultivation of wheat (more than 6 million tons annually), corn (over 8 million tons), linseed, sunflower seed, and in the breeding of cattle, sheep and pigs, is the principal branch of the Argentine economy. Meat-packing, flour-milling, sugar-refining and other branches of the food industry are important.
Since the war, particularly in recent years, the metallurgical, engineering, petrochemical and other branches of the heavy industry have made great strides. Argentina has emerged to third place on the continent in the production of pig iron and steel, and is increasing the output of machinetools, motor vehicles and tractors which are partly exported to the neighbouring countries.
On the whole, Argentina is an agrarian-industrial country dependent on foreign capital. Her key branches of the economy are controlled mainly by North American and partly by British and West German monopolies associated with the local bourgeoisie and landowners.
Following the people's victory in the 1970 Presidential elections, Chile has taken the road of far-reaching revolutionary reforms. The country has taken the first steps towards achieving national and social emancipation and the establishment of genuine democracy and socialism.
155Chile occupies a narrow strip of land over 4,000 kilometres long on the southwest coast of the continent. The capital Santiago (population about 2.6 million) is situated almost in the centre of the country.
The Republic of Chile is sometimes likened to a sword attached to the side of South America in memory of its people's battles for liberation against the Spanish conquerors, and sometimes to a copper thread stretching from the continent's tropics to its cold, near-Antarctic regions. The Chileans have a legend that having created land, God discovered that he still had a large number of cliffs, islands and lakes to spare. So gathering them in one place he made Chile, a land with considerable reserves of copper, saltpetre, coal, oil, iron, manganese, and ores of non-ferrous and rare metals essential for industrial development.
Mining is the core of the country's economy. Chile occupies a leading place among the capitalist states in the production of copper and also in the production and export of molybdenum, saltpetre and iodine. Foreign, primarily North American, monopoly capital controls the exploitation of Chile's natural wealth. It also controls budding branches of the manufacturing industry.
The people's government of Chile has launched a programme of the building of a national economy. The state has confiscated or assumed control over iron-ore deposits, coal mines, the iron and steel industry, many factories and private banks. The nationalisation of the copper industry, the country's chief extractive industry, will enormously strengthen the state sector in the economy. Steps are being taken to eradicate semi-feudal relations in agriculture and accelerate the agrarian reform. The people of Chile are intensifying their struggle against imperialism and the local oligarchy and for the inauguration of revolutionary reforms in their country which has chosen the socialist road of development.
Latin American countries have distinctive natural, economic and social features. Nevertheless, they all have a common feature: the mounting struggle of their people against the domination of foreign imperialism and the local reactionary oligarchy, for economic progress and genuine national independence.
156 __ALPHA_LVL3__ SoutheastSoutheast and South Asia comprise an extensive, densely populated region of the developing world. Covering an area of approximately 9 rriillion sq. km. this region has a population of about 1,000 million, or 60 per cent of the total population of all African and Asian countries.
The countries of Southeast and South Asia occupy an important place in the modern world. Their enormous international significance is explained first of all by the fact that they account for almost a third of the world population. They are a major source of manpower resources and a region of a mounting national liberation struggle.
Possessing considerable natural resources these countries account for the bulk of natural rubber, tin and tea sold on world markets, and also large quantities of manganese and copper ore, nickel and other strategic materials.
Area and Population of Countries in Southeast and South Asia Area (sq. km.) Population All developing countries of Southeast and South Asia 9,000,000 985,000,000 of which: India 3,300,000 550,000,000 Indonesia 1,900,000 17,000,000 Pakistan 900,000 52,000,000 Bangladesh Burma 140,000 700,000 75,000,000 28,000,000The world sea and air routes linking Europe and Africa with Asia and Australia and the Indian and Pacific oceans are also of great strategic and economic importance.
In the past Southeast and South Asia were the private domain of British, Dutch and French colonialists. The 157 British were the undivided rulers in India, the biggest country in South Asia. Lenin characterised the British colonialists as "regular Genghis Khans" who plundered and oppressed India for over two centuries.
The peoples of India had always fought against the foreign invaders. To a large extent their struggle was influenced by the Great October Revolution in Russia in 1917 which powerfully stimulated the national liberation movement. The victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-- 45 motivated the Indian people to launch a decisive struggle against the British rule with the result that India emerged on the path of independent development.
Following the expulsion of the British colonialists from South Asia two large states, India and Pakistan, emerged on the Indian Peninsula. In 1972, as a result of the victory of the national-liberation movement in East Bengal the independent republic of Bangladesh was proclaimed in the eastern wing of Pakistan. The former British colonies of Burma, Ceylon and the Maldive Islands also achieved independence. Nepal is consolidating her independence. Bhutan has become a member of the United Nations.
In Southeast Asia the Republic of Indonesia emerged in place of the Netherlands Indies. The victorious battles against the colonialists resulted in the appearance of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on the territory of the former French Indochina. Malaysia and Singapore emerged in the place of former British colonies. The USA was forced to grant independence to the Philippines.
The principal branch of the economy of the young independent states of Southeast and South Asia is agriculture which employs about 80 per cent of the population and yields more than a half of the national income. In this branch of production plantations cultivating tea, tobacco, rubber and other agricultural items of export play an important part. The local semi-natural economy of the small peasants and the landed estates cannot meet domestic food requirements. The lagging agriculture is one of the reasons for the slow rates of industrial development of these countries.
[158]Bangladesh is a new sovereign state which appeared on the political map of South Asia in 1972 following the victory of the national-liberation movement of the people of East Bengal and its secession from Pakistan. Bangladesh lies in the lower reaches' of the Ganges. In the east it borders on Burma, and in the north and west on India. In the south Bangladesh is washed by the Bay of Bengal which is a part of the Indian Ocean.
Bangladesh has a relatively small territory (140,000 sq. km.) and a population of 75 million, of whom the Bengalese, a people with an ancient culture, make up the majority. The greater part of the population is concentrated in the rural areas. There are few large cities, of which the most important is the capital, Dacca (population about 800,000), and the port of Chittagong (500,000 inhabitants).
Because of its colonial past and recent dependence on West Pakistan, the economy of Bangladesh is weak. Over 80 per cent of the population are employed in agriculture. Bangladesh grows rice and jute and has a developed fishing industry. The republic is the world's biggest producer of jute and also cultivates tea, tobacco, vegetables and orchard crops. Handicraft industries predominate in its still weakly developed economy, which was seriously damaged by West Pakistan troops.
The rehabilitation and the further development of the economy and improvement of the standard of living are directly connected with the socio-economic reforms which are being carried out by the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
Occupying the northwest of the Indochina Peninsula and the adjoining part of the mainland Burma borders on Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh. Burma is a land of mountains and plateaus cleft by river valleys and covered with tropical jungle.
The Burmese have a high ancient culture. In 1948 they freed themselves from the British colonialists and proclaimed Burma's independence.
159But the national bourgeoisie and the landowners who came to power opposed socio-economic and political reforms and thus created a threat to Burma's national independence. In 1962 power passed into the hands of the Revolutionary Council which advanced the Burmese Way to Socialism programme signifying the country's transition to the progressive road of development.
According to the new Constitution the state is called the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. Its capital, Rangoon, has a population of 1.8 million.
Advancing along her chosen road Burma is introducing far-reaching reforms: she has nationalised all foreign banks, companies, industrial enterprises, transport and communications, and also' some branches of private capitalist production, foreign and wholesale trade. Her developing state sector controls the production of almost 40 per cent of the gross national product. The state controls the production of oil, silver, tin, tungsten, lead, zinc, copper and precious stones, teakwood timbering and also the woodworking and other manufacturing industries.
The state is building a number of industrial projects including a tractor assembly plant, nitrogen fertiliser and farm machinery factories, and a textile mill, all of which comprise the mainstay of Burma's rising national industry.
Serious steps are being made to promote agricultural production, an important branch of the economy employing four-fifths of the population. The peasants, freed from the need to pay rent to the landowners and delivered from the yoke of money-lenders, are drawing on state credits to buy fertiliser and build irrigation systems. They are mustering their efforts to develop virgin lands, enlarge the irrigated area, make more efficient use of fertiliser and farm machinery and increase crop yields. To help the peasants the state has established machine and tractor stations.
The greater part of the cultivated area is under rice whose average annual harvest is approximately 8 million tons. Other important agricultural products are groundnuts, sesamum, cotton, sugar cane and beans. Some of them, mainly rice, are exported in large quantities. Draught animals--- buffaloes and oxen---cows and other cattle arc raised. As distinct from other developing countries Burma is self-sufficient in food.
160Economic reforms are changing the social structure of the population. While the exploiter classes are being steadily deprived of their economic positions and political influence, the working class is growing in number and is coming to play an increasing role in the country. The workers' councils established at enterprises are drawing the masses into production management. People's peasant councils are encouraging the rural population to carry through the agrarian reform, develop the co-operative movement and boost agricultural production. A series of social measures are being carried out to meet the needs of the working people. A minimum wage has been fixed and working people are entitled to paid holidays. Medical service and education are free. National personnel is being trained and the level of literacy and culture is steadily rising.
India, one of the world's biggest states, is playing an increasingly important role on the international scene. Situated in the centre of South Asia, she has a 15,000-- kilometrelong border with China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Her vast territory extends for more than 3,000 kilometres from the Himalayas in the north to the tip of the Indian Peninsula in the south. The Ganges with the Brahmaputra, and the Indus with its tributaries---India's great rivers which irrigate the fertile Great Plains, India's granary---rise in the mighty peaks of the Himalayas covered with eternal snows and glaciers. South of the Great Plains lies the Deccan Plateau, a huge area of desert and medium mountains. The coast facing the Indian Ocean is under tropical forests. The wealth of the vegetative cover is supplemented by rich deposits of iron, manganese, bauxites, gold and other useful minerals.
A land of ancient culture, India has a population of more than 550 million consisting of different races and tribes.
Having freed themselves from colonial oppression, the Indian people are increasing their struggle for progress and democracy.
Since her independence, almost 25 years ago, India has made considerable headway in economic and cultural development and in consolidating her sovereignty.
__PRINTERS_P_161_COMMENT__ 11---999 161She was among the first young independent states to introduce elements of planning into the economy. The state controls the leading branches of the heavy industry, transport and communications, banks and insurance companies. In other words it holds key positions in the economy. Since she became independent India has increased her volume of industrial production by 3 times. In the volume of the gross national product India is now among the 10 leading countries of the capitalist world. But the growth rates of industrial and agricultural production are still behind the population growth (approximately 13 million a year).
About a hundred large enterprises of the state sector employing about 500,000 workers make up the core of India's rising modern industry. Consistently extending its positions the state sector embraces the metallurgical, oil, chemical, engineering and other key industries ensuring the industrialisation of the country.
India annually produces about 71 million tons of coal, 6.5 million tons of oil, over 50,000 million kwh of electricity, close to 7 million tons of steel and over 90,000 tons of aluminium.
India's first iron and steel factory is the Bhilai plant (State of Madhya Pradesh). Built with Soviet assistance it will subsequently increase its annual steel output to 2,500,000 tons. Metallurgical factories have been built in Rourkela (State of Orissa) and Durgapur (State of West Bengal). The Soviet Union is assisting in the construction of an iron and steel plant in Bokaro whose first section will have a capacity of 1,500,000 tons of steel. When completed the plant will be producing up to 4 million tons of steel a year. The emerging engineering industry is to an ever greater degree meeting the domestic requirements in machines and plant. New machinetool and power engineering enterprises are being put into operation: heavy machine-building factory (Ranchi), and factories manufacturing mining equipment (Durgapur) and heavy electric equipment (Hardwar). Important industrial centres are Ghittaranjan (locomotive building) near Calcutta and Visakhapatnam (shipbuilding). Calcutta, Bombay and Madras have motor vehicle assembly factories and there is an aircraft factory in Bangalore. The biggest nitrogen fertiliser factory in Asia (not counting the Asian part of the USSR) is situated in Sindri, near Calcutta.
162In the production of cotton fabrics (4,500 million metres annually) India comes next to the United States in the capitalist world. The largest textile centres are Bombay and Ahmadabad. There are about 100 jute mills in the vicinity of Calcutta with an annual output of over a million tons of sacking, canvas, ropes and other items.
India's food industry annually produces 3 million tons of sugar, hundreds of thousands of tons of tobacco, tea, vegetable oils and other items. Handicraft industry processing agricultural raw materials turns out large quantities of consumer goods.
Agriculture, which is the occupation of about two-thirds of India's able-bodied population, yields 50 per cent of the national income. Members of producers' co-operatives whose establishment is encouraged by the authorities, retain private ownership of the land but till it collectively, distributing the income according to the size of their lots. Handicrafts are developing in the co-operatives and other measures are being taken in keeping with the programme of communal development. On the whole, however, co-operatives play but an insignificant role in the Indian economy.
Rice is the principal crop. Wheat, millet and beans are also cultivated. Industrial crops include cotton, jute, tea, tobacco, sugar cane and groundnuts. The gross grain harvest in bumper years ranges from 90 to 100 million tons. The growth of harvests has enabled India to stop importing foodstuffs.
India has one of the biggest cattle population (200 million) in the world, but its productivity is one of the lowest. Cows are used mainly as draught animals. Hinduism prohibits the slaughter of cows for food and the government, therefore, expends large funds on the maintenance of animals which are either too old or too sick to be of any further use.
Only a fifth of the population lives in cities. The capital New Delhi has 4.2 million inhabitants. Public services and amenities and sanitary conditions are improving in villages and towns. Measures are being taken to wipe out hotbeds of epidemics and the sick rate is falling. Almost a third of the population can now read and write. India's universities and colleges are training an increasing number of national specialists. National science and culture are advancing.
__PRINTERS_P_163_COMMENT__ 11* 163National-religious relations are very complicated. Among India's numerous nations and tribes there are about 15 large nationalities. The northwest is inhabited by Kashmiris, Rajasthanis and Punjabis, the north and central parts by Hindustanis and Biharis, the northeast by Bengalese, Assamese and Oriyas and the west by Marathas. In the south live Telugu, Tamils, Malayalis and Kanarese. The overwhelming majority of the population are Hindus. There are also tens of millions of Moslems most of whom live in regions bordering on Pakistan.
India's further economic and cultural development is directly connected with the deep-going socio-economic changes in the country and her peace-loving foreign policy. The 1971 Soviet-Indian Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation helps India to carry through her plans aimed at promoting socio-economic progress, and strengthening peace in Asia and the world.
Pakistan lies in the valley of the Indus, between Afghanistan and Iran. Her southern shores are washed by the Arabian Sea.
The territory of Pakistan (over 800,000 sq. km.) is predominantly covered by mountains and tablelands with a hot dry climate and semi-desert vegetation. The exception is the Indus valley. Irrigated by the river it is cultivated and is the most densely populated part of the country.
Pakistan's population of about 52 million consists of Sindhis, Punjabis, Baluchis, Pathans and other peoples. The capital is Islamabad.
The overwhelming majority of the population is employed in agriculture, the mainstay of the country's economy. The most important crops are wheat and cotton. There is meat and dairy cattle. But agriculture does not fully satisfy the country's requirements in food, though in recent years she has become less dependent on imported foodstuffs.
Until recently Pakistan had no modern industry. A number of enterprises have been built in the past few years with the assistance of the USSR and other countries. Now 164 the country is building up her own light, food, engineering, chemical and a number of other industries.
Nevertheless, strenuous efforts will have to be made before Pakistan overcomes her age-old economic and cultural backwardness inherited from colonialism.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ West Asia and NorthThe countries of West Asia (they are sometimes referred to as the countries of the Near and Middle East) and North Africa comprise a large region of the developing world. Though in area this region is almost twice as big as Southeast and South Asia, its population is a quarter of the latter.
Centuries ago seats of high ancient culture and civilisation appeared in this region which adjoins the Mediterranean and Red seas. The peoples of West Asia and Northeast and North Africa maintained close economic, political and cultural contacts.
With the advent of imperialism the colonialists forcibly imposed their rule on many countries and nations of West Asia and Northeast and North Africa. In the early years of this century there were only five formally independent monarchies in this part of the world: Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey in West Asia, and Ethiopia and Morocco in Africa. Later Morocco became a French protectorate.
The natural resources of West Asia and North Africa have always attracted imperialist invaders. The most valuable mineral resources are the extremely rich proven deposits of oil and gas (about four-fifths of the oil deposits of the capitalist world): annual oil output in this part of the world has exceeded 920 million tons. By destructively exploiting the oil fields the western monopolies are reaping thousands of millions of dollars in profits. The annual profits of the US monopolies alone are estimated at $ 2,000 million.
An important role is played by the advantageous geographic position of the countries of West Asia and North Africa. All of them, with the exception of Afghanistan, have coastlines facing either the Mediterranean, Black, Red or Arabian 165 seas with their world shipping routes, of which the most important is the Mediterranean route linking Gibraltar, Suez and Aden.
Though the imperialists are doing their utmost to hold on to their positions in this important strategic region of the world they are, nevertheless, retreating in the face of the powerful upsurge of the national-liberation movement of the Arab peoples. Syria and Lebanon, former French colonies, became independent in 1943. As a result of the rout of fascist Italy Libya became independent in 1951. Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia won state sovereignty in 1956. In 1960 the Republic of Cyprus and in 1961 Kuwait joined the family of young national states. In 1962 Algeria became an independent democratic state. Independent South Yemen was established at the close of 1968. Qatar and Bahrein became independent in 1971 and then the United Arab Emirates also won independence.
The majority of the countries of West Asia and North Africa are young national states which appeared as a result of the collapse of the colonial system. But fragments of this system still exist. The population of the dependent countries is fighting for freedom and independence.
All these countries are searching for ways of achieving full economic and political independence in conditions of intensifying class struggle. In some pro-imperialist elements are gaining the upper hand. In an effort to overthrow progressive regimes in the Middle East the imperialists unleashed an Israeli aggression against the Arab countries in 1967. However, they failed to gain their aims. The peoples of the world are supporting the Arabs in their just struggle against the imperialist invaders.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Cyprus, Kuwait, Tunisia and Morocco are pursuing a policy of positive neutrality and non-participation in imperialist military blocs.
A number of countries, including the Syrian Arab Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Algerian People's Democratic Republic and the Republic of Iraq, are putting through socio-economic reforms to undermine the foundations 166 of feudalism and suppress monopoly capitalism and neocolonialism.
The government of the Libyan Arab Republic established as a result of a revolutionary coup in 1969 announced its adherence to the ideas of social progress. The revolution in Somalia in 1969 resulted in the formation of the Somali Democratic Republic whose government is drawing up a programme of economic and social reforms designed to counter all forms of neocolonialism.
Though the countries of West Asia and North Africa have much in common as regards their history and the __NOTE__ Table is right here in original. contemporary situation, some groups of them have their distinctive features. Among the countries of the region under review a prominent place is occupied by Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
Area and Population of Some Countries of West Asia Area (sq. km.) Population All countries of West Asia 6,800,000 118,000,000 of which: Afghanistan 650,000 17,100,000 Iran 1,650,000 28,700,000 Turkey 800,000 35,200,000 Iraq 450,000 9,400,000 Syria 200,000 5,400,000Afghanistan is a mountainous country bordering on the USSR, Iran, Pakistan and the Chinese People's Republic. The shortest routes from the USSR to India and from Europe to Asia pass through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 1969 the people of Afghanistan observed the 50th anniversary of their country's independence. The USSR and 167 Afghanistan have what can be qualified as traditional goodneighbourly relations of co-operation.
Mutually advantageous co-operation stimulates the Afghan economy which is in the hands of both the private and state sector. Having completed its second five-year plan Afghanistan is fulfilling the third five-year plan (1967--1972) which envisages priority development of agriculture, irrigation, mining and industry.
Afghanistan is building a large number of industrial projects and developing the transport and irrigation system with the economic and technical assistance of the USSR. For example, the Soviet Union has helped to build a key western motor road linking Turgundi and Kandahar and the TransHindu Kush highway connecting Shirkhan on the Amu Darya with the capital Kabul which shortened the route between Kabul and the northern provinces. Soviet specialists helped to explore and launch the development of oil and gas deposits in the north of the country.
The new industrial projects are strengthening Afghanistan's economy, but agriculture is still the main branch of the economy and accounts for 90 per cent of the employed population. The crops are cereals, mainly wheat, rice, corn and barley. Afghanistan is rich in fruits and grapes. With sheepbreeding as the principal branch of stock-breeding Afghanistan is a major producer of karakul, sheepskin and wool.
Economic development is accompanied by a growth in the cultural level of villages and towns. Ten per cent of the population live in towns. Kabul, the capital and the nation's biggest industrial and cultural centre, has over 450,000 inhabitants. It has a polytechnical institute and other higher educational establishments where national specialists are trained.
Iran occupies a central position in the Middle East. In the north (both on land and along the Caspian Sea) Iran borders on the USSR, in the south the country has a coastline facing the Indian Ocean. The Trans-Iranian Railway connecting Bandar Shah on the Caspian Sea with Bandar Shahpur on the Persian Gulf provides an outlet to the Indian 168 Ocean. Iran is a connecting link between her western neighbours---Turkey and Iraq---and her eastern neighbours---Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in general is situated along important international communication lines.
Iran's ruling circles have initiated agrarian and other reforms in an effort to overcome the country's backwardness and promote her economy. The agrarian reform undermined the positions of the wealthy landowners and inaugurated the involved process of capitalist development in the rural areas. The annual cereal harvest (mainly wheat) ranges from 4 to 5 million tons. But there is not enough wheat to meet the domestic requirements and certain quantities of it are imported.
Oil production is the chief branch of industry. Iran's oil deposits are estimated at 9,000 million tons and the annual output is about 190 million tons. The biggest oil-producing country in the Middle East, Iran accounts for about 25 per cent of the region's total oil output. Khuzistan in the southwest is Iran's chief oil region. South Iranian oil is piped to the capital Teheran in the north and from there to the northwest (Resht) and east (Meshed). The bulk of the oil which is shipped out of the country by tankers goes to advanced capitalist countries. An international oil consortium, an association of the biggest western oil monopolies in which the leading part is played by US oil companies, is in control of Iranian oil.
With foreign assistance Iran is building up motor vehicle assembly, tractor, petrochemical, cement and metallurgical industries. A metallurgical plant has been built in Isfahan with Soviet aid. The Soviet Union and Iran are co-operating in the hydroelectric power projects on the Araxes that forms a border between the two countries. The Trans-Iranian gas pipeline transporting Iranian gas to the Soviet Union has been put into operation. The USSR is helping Iran to reconstruct and electrify her railways and to deepen her Caspian ports.
The developing co-operation with the USSR and other socialist countries is strengthening Iran's positions in her relations with the capitalist countries that are in control of individual branches of the country's economy.
169Turkey lies partly in West Asia and partly in Southeast Europe. Turkey in Asia is separated from Turkey in Europe (Eastern Thrace) by the straits of the Black Sea (the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles).
Modern Turkey is experiencing a difficult period. Concerned about the low level of the country's economic development the Turkish public is searching for a solution to acute economic and social problems.
In recent years Turkey has been endeavouring to lessen her dependence on imperialist powers by promoting economic and cultural relations with neighbouring countries, including the socialist states. Major importance is being attached to the re-establishment of goodneighbourly relations between Turkey and the USSR which had been initiated at the time when the great Lenin stood at the head of the Soviet Union and Turkey was guided by her outstanding statesman Kemal Atatiirk. The 1972 Declaration on the principles of goodneighbourly relations between the USSR and Turkey strengthens the co-operation between the two countries.
The Soviet Union is helping Turkey to build a number of key industrial enterprises, including the country's first large aluminium factory and an oil refinery on the coast of the Aegean Sea, and a metallurgical plant in Iskenderun on the Mediterranean coast.
Key branches of industry are owned by the state, and industrial production already accounts for approximately a third of the national income.
Chromite is the main export mineral. Turkey also produces copper ore, manganese, complex and other ores, about 8 million tons of coal and over 3 million tons of oil. The Karabiik Iron and Steel Complex uses local iron ore.
Locomotive, carriage and ship repair works and aircraft assembly factories make up the bulk of the engineering industry's capacities. There is a fairly big cement industry (annual output over 4 million tons). The output of electricity is approaching 7,000 million kwh a year. The large Keban Hydroelectric Station is under construction on the Euphrates.
But Turkey's economy is based on agriculture which provides a livelihood for 75 per cent of the population and yields 170 close to two-thirds of her gross national product. Agriculture is extensive and is still fettered by feudal and semi-feudal relations. Over 66 per cent of the arable land is in the hands of landowners and kulaks. The overwhelming majority of the peasants have small plots or none at all, rent land from the landowners on extremely heavy terms. The productivity of agriculture is low.
The principal crops are wheat, barley, corn and rice. The annual cereal harvest averages from 14 to 15 million tons, of which approximately 10 million are wheat. Sugar beet, cotton and tobacco are important industrial crops. Large quantities of grapes, citrus fruits and olives are growing in the western, maritime part of Turkey. In some eastern regions pastoral sheep-breeding is the principal branch of agriculture. High-quality wool from mohair goats and other animal by-products are partly exported.
Land hungry or landless peasants---farm labourers and metayers---comprise the majority of the population. Falling into ruin the peasants leave their villages and swell the numerous contingents of the unemployed.
Iraq is situated at the intersection of international air and overland routes linking Iran with Syria, the Mediterranean area with the Asian hinterland, and the west with the east which have replaced the old caravan trails.
Using these caravan trails Seljukian Turks, the Mongol hordes and the tribes of Southern Arabia invaded Iraq in their time. Arab nomads settled down in the fertile plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates and took up agriculture. But long before these ethnic groups and races merged into what is now the population of Iraq, one of the most ancient seats of civilisation appeared in Mesopotamia in the south of the country. Today, however, only the ruins of Babylon and Borsippa and other cities which appeared on Iraqi soil long before our era, remind us of the former glory of that civilisation.
Iraq's climate and physical environment have not changed since. Hot and long summers combined with irrigated farming ensure bumper harvests of rice, cotton and other crops 171 cultivated in fertile Mesopotamia. Marshy in places the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates and the valley of deep Shatt-el-Arab, formed as a result of their confluence, are surrounded by deserts. Deposits of oil, Iraq's principal mineral wealth, have been discovered in Upper Mesopotamia which comes right up to the spurs of the Iranian uplands.
Iraq's wealth, just as the wealth of the neighbouring young independent states, was a source of enrichment for the colonialists. The British, who had complete control over Iraq's economy, particularly valued her oil which they shipped to the British Isles. For many years Iraq was an agrarian stockbreeding country.
Determined to preserve their domination over the country the British colonialists fomented national and religious strife among the population of Iraq. Inciting the Shiite Arabs, who comprise the majority of the population, against the Sunnite Kurds, one of its national minorities, the British hoped to weaken Iraq and facilitate their oppression of the Iraqi people.^^*^^ The fratricidal war between the Arabs and the Kurds continued for nine years even after 1958, the year when the mandated Hashimite Kingdom was overthrown and Iraq became independent as a result of a mighty upsurge of the national liberation movement. The dire heritage of colonialism handicapped every aspect of the country's economic and social development.
In this connection the peaceful settlement of the Kurdish problem played an inestimable role in consolidating Iraq's sovereignty.
A matter of decisive importance for Iraq's progress along the new road is the scope and depth of the socio-economic changes designed to cut short the intrigues of the imperialists, Zionism and reactionary feudal elements.
Iraq is an agrarian country. Nearly four-fifths of the population are peasants, most of them without land of their own. The agrarian reform is proceeding slowly and the feudal lords still enjoy considerable influence in the country.
_-_-_^^*^^ Arabs comprise 75 per cent, Kurds---20 per cent of the population; the majority of the inhabitants are Moslems of whom Shiites make up 60 per cent and Sunnites---40 per cent.
172The complete abolition of feudalism, distribution of the land among peasants and the introduction of measures to encourage the establishment of agricultural co-operatives would open broad prospects for promoting the growth of agricultural productive forces.
Oil production (75 million tons) is the main and very promising branch of industry. Iraq is the fourth biggest oil producer among the countries of the Middle East. Only a small portion of Iraqi oil is distilled at refineries in Kirkuk and Haditha. Most of it is piped to the Mediterranean ports of Tripoli and Baniyas for shipment to western countries. Foreign oil monopolies are amassing huge profits from the extraction and sales of Iraqi oil.
During the past few years Iraq has been taking steps to limit the operations of foreign monopolies in the oil industry. The state is taking over an increasing share of the oil extraction and profits of the foreign monopolies, limiting their rights of developing new deposits and is laying the foundation for a state-owned oil industry. A hosiery and knitwear factory, a factory manufacturing insulation materials, the first of its kind in West Asia, a bicycle, pharmaceutical, canned food and other industrial enterprises have been built. Railways and ports are being reconstructed and a national tanker fleet is coming into being. Following an anti-- imperialist course, the Republic of Iraq is strengthening its independence. The Soviet-Iraqi Treaty of Friendship and Co-- operation signed in 1972 creates favourable conditions for Iraq's further progressive development.
The Syrian Arab Republic is situated south of Turkey in the zone of the Mediterranean subtropics. But neither a favourable climate nor her heroic past have so far helped her to develop into a flourishing country. The reason for this has been the foreign yoke and colonial domination to which she has been subject for centuries.
In recent years the state has assumed control over the majority of industrial enterprises and now the state sector accounts for over 80 per cent of the total volume of industrial production.
Under the current agrarian reform the excess land 173 confiscated from the landowners is transferred to the peasants. Supply and sales co-operatives are being established in the villages. As a result there is a steady increase in the production of cereals (wheat and barley) and particularly in industrial crops (cotton). Syria is a land of pastoral animal-- breeding (sheep, goats, cattle and camels). Cotton, tobacco, citrus fruits and other agricultural products are exported in large quantities.
Syria has given priority development to the light industry which produces fabrics, yarn, wool, carpets, tobacco, food and other commodities. The capital, Damascus (population over 600,000), and the Mediterranean ports of Latakia and Baniyas, are the chief industrial centres.
The USSR and other socialist countries are helping the Syrian Arab Republic to build a number of industrial, irrigation and other projects which will transform its economy. Considerable qualitative changes are expected to take place following the completion of a dam and large hydroelectric power scheme under construction on the Euphrates. They will almost double the irrigated area and provide cities and villages with electricity.
The Soviet Union is assisting Syria in exploring and developing oil, gas and other mineral deposits, building railways and motor roads and reconstructing her sea ports.
The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen is situated in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. The republic appeared as a result of the struggle of the Yemeni people against the British colonialists who oppressed the country for nearly 130 years and turned the naval base of Aden into a citadel of their sway in the East.
In area (about 290,000 sq. km.) the Yemen Republic is 10 times bigger than Albania, but has a smaller population.
Agriculture (cotton-growing and sheep-breeding) is the principal branch of the economy. Aden is an important port and industrial centre.
The nationalisation of the lands of former sultans and the introduction of other socio-economic reforms is promoting 174 the economic and social growth of the republic which is receiving substantial assistance from the USSR and other socialist countries.
The countries of the Arab East are situated in North Africa. Two of them, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Libyan Arab Republic, together with the Syrian Arab Republic in Asia, make up a federation of Arab republics which they have established to overcome the consequences of the Israeli aggression and to carry out democratic reforms. Algeria and other North African countries are also advancing along the road of social reforms.
Area and Population of North African Countries Area (sq. km.) Population All North African coun-- tries 10,200,000 115,000,000 of which: Arab Republic of Egypt 1,000,000 30,100,000 Algeria 2,400,000 13,500,000 Sudan 2,500,000 15,700,000 Libya 1,760,000 1,900,000 Somalia 640,000 2,700,000 Ethiopia 1,200,000 24,800,000The Arab Republic of Egypt is a large developing country (area: 1 million sq. km.). Occupying the northeast corner of Africa and the Peninsula of Sinai, it is both an African and Asian state. It has taken the road of non-- capitalist development and has made considerable progress in this direction.
Egypt, a land with an ancient civilisation, holds an important geographic position on the junction of Africa and 175 Asia at the intersection of international east-west sea and air communications. The Suez Canal, the shortest waterway between the Atlantic and Indian oceans passes through its territory.
As a result of the 1967 Israeli aggression against Egypt the Suez Canal was put out of commission and all shipping through it was blocked.
Years of British colonial domination greatly retarded Egypt's economic and cultural growth. In 1952, an anti-- imperialist revolution deposed the monarchy, undermined the positions of British colonial rule in the country and opened the road for Egypt's independent progressive development.
The development of the anti-monarchistic revolution into a national democratic revolution wrought great socio-- economic changes in the country. In 1961 and 1962 the government decreed the nationalisation of banks, heavy industry, transport and trade and established the state sector which assumed key positions in the country's developing economy and now yields a half of her national income. The agrarian reform, under which the land was transferred to those who till it, struck a heavy blow at feudalism and enhanced the peasants' role in moulding Egypt's future.
Industrialisation, now underway with the assistance of the Soviet Union and other socialist states, is gradually modifying the structure of the economy and augmenting the role of industry. Industry has not yet acquired a leading position in the economy, but is developing rapidly, yielding a large part of the national income.
Since the revolution, Egypt has built 800 industrial enterprises, created its own metallurgical, oil, chemical, engineering and other industries and increased the industrial output severalfold.
The relatively developed textile and food industries are producing increasing quantities of cotton and silk fabrics, tobacco, sugar, cottonseed oil and other commodities. The emerging heavy industry is coming to play a decisive role in the economy. The Helwan Metallurgical Complex now under construction will become the core of the iron and steel industry. Factories manufacturing railway carriages, machine-tools and other items out of local metal are already 176 in operation in Helwan near Cairo. Egypt also has automobile assembly, bicycle and refrigerator factories and shipyards.
The recently established chemical and oil industries produce mineral fertiliser liquid fuel and other oil products out of local raw materials. With the assistance of the Soviet Union Egypt has become the biggest producer of antibiotics and other medicines in the Arab East. Oil production is mounting and the country's fuel and power base is being strengthened. The Israeli aggression has temporarily deprived Egypt of its oilfields in Sinai but oil production is increasing in the Western Desert and at other new deposits and now amounts to approximately 20 million tons. Steadily increasing oil production Egypt is turning into a major oil producer in the Middle East.
Built with Soviet assistance the Aswan Hydroelectric Power Complex on the Nile has become the backbone of the power-engineering industry and the entire economy. The complex includes a Ill-metre-high dam, one of the world's largest hydroelectric stations (2,100,000 kw) and a huge storage lake which extends for 500 km and holds 160 cu. km. of water.
It is impossible to overestimate the economic significance of the Aswan scheme which annually supplies the capital, Cairo (population about 5 million), Alexandria and other industrial cities with approximately 10,000 million kwh of electricity. Their enterprises and construction sites employ over 20,000 specialists, former fellaheen who acquired various professions during the construction of the Aswan scheme. Finally, the man-made sea with its colossal fresh water reserves has rid the fertile Nile valley of droughts and floods and by irrigating an area of 1,400,000 jeddans (1 feddan=0.42 hectares) has increased the cultivated area by 33 per cent.
The Aswan station is the first of a series of hydroelectric power stations which Egypt intends to build on the Nile. In this land of sunshine and a warm climate the fellaheen take in two harvests a year and are increasing the output of diverse agricultural products.
Fine long-staple cotton is the main crop and a key item of export. Sesamum, sugar cane, groundnuts and fruits are cultivated for domestic needs and for export Cereals, __PRINTERS_P_177_COMMENT__ 12---999 177 however, are imported since Egypt is not self-sufficient in wheat, rice, corn and barley.
The further consolidation of the military and economic potential of Egypt is directly connected with the further development of socio-economic reforms and the strengthening of its social and state systems. Stiffening their rebuff to the continuing Israeli aggression the people of Egypt are at the same time making headway in economic and cultural development, despite the temporary occupation of a part of their country. An important role is played by the SovietEgyptian Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation in facilitating Egypt's efforts to carry through socialist changes.
The Sudan is a country of great contrasts and complicated social and economic problems. Her physical features, population structure and economy are directly contingent on her geographic position.
A vast area in the north is covered by the Libyan and Nubian deserts. In this arid zone precipitation is extremely low and there are places where there is no rain for years at a stretch. The southern part of the country lies in the zone of the equatorial monsoon climate and has high-grassy savannahs with oases abounding in valuable trees.
The Nile, which is formed at Khartoum (nearly 350,000 inhabitants) by the confluence of the White and the Blue Nile, traverses the Sudan from southern to northern borders. Almost the entire population is concentrated on irrigated lands of the Nile basin which constitutes less than three per cent of the total area.
Arabs and Nubians make up two-thirds of the population. In the south there are the Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk, Bari and other numerous Negro people engaged in stock-breeding, hunting and fishing.
The present-day Sudan inherited religious and tribal strife and a backward economy from the British colonialists. Sudanese economy is based on irrigated farming specialising in the production of cotton, sesamum, groundnuts and other export crops. The country is not self-sufficient in cereals and animal products.
178Mining (gold, manganese, mica, sea salt), the processing of agricultural raw materials and handicrafts constitute the foundation of the industry.
Libya (1,760,000 sq.km.) is one of the biggest African countries. But only approximately 0.5 per cent of her territory is cultivated, the rest being occupied by deserts and semi-deserts where very rich oilfields have been discovered. At the beginning of 1971, their reserves have been estimated at 3,800 million tons, which is equal to twothirds of the proven oil resources of all the African countries.
A vast country, Libya has a population of less than 2,000,000, mostly Arabs and Berbers, concentrated along a narrow strip of the Mediterranean coast. In the south there are the nomadic Tuaregs and some Negroid tribes. Over 50 per cent of the population live in Tripoli (350,000 inhabitants) and other towns.
Libya's economic backwardness is due to a prolonged period of foreign rule. Agriculture, enmeshed in feudal relations, is stagnant. The principal industry is oil extraction (about 160 million tons in 1970) and there are small enterprises processing agricultural raw materials. As a result almost all essential commodities are imported. Oil is exported to western countries.
The victory of the revolution in September 1969 and the proclamation of the Libyan Arab Republic inaugurated a period of crucial socio-economic reforms. The state has established control over the activity of foreign oil monopolies. An industrialisation plan is being drawn up and Libya is expanding her relations with progressive Arab states. The workers' minimum wage has been doubled and the living standard is rising. The country is gradually consolidating her internal and international positions. Overcoming difficulties and frustrating the schemes of the reaction new Libya is confidently advancing along the road of social and economic progress.
__PRINTERS_P_179_COMMENT__ 12* 179Algeria, a French colony in the recent past, and now a people's democratic republic, occupies an important place among the young national states.
A north African state, Algeria is situated in the direct proximity of the countries of South Europe. She has an approximately 2,000-kilometre-long coastline with convenient harbours facing the Mediterranean. Overland routes across the Sahara connect Algerian ports with the neighbouring republics of Mali and Niger and other countries of West and Central Africa. Numerous air routes over her territory connect Western Europe and Africa.
Algeria was a French colony for more than 130 years. The French colonialists established large capitalist farms, some of which occupied tens of thousands of hectares of the most fertile Algerian land confiscated from the native population. Algerians deprived of land were forced to hire themselves out to the European colonists and local feudal lords. Shortly before Algeria became independent an estimated one million Europeans owned almost 3,000,000 hectares of fertile land in the country. French capital held key positions in the economy of Algeria which was an agrarian and raw materials source of metropolitan France.
After the Second World War, in 1954, the Algerian people launched an armed struggle against the French colonialists whose victorious conclusion eight years later resulted in the establishment of an independent Algerian republic. The colonialists withdrew from Algeria leaving behind a backward and dislocated economy and mass unemployment.
The Algerian authorities nationalised the mining, engineering, food and other industries and also commercial firms, banks, transport companies and all the land owned by the colonists. The expropriated farms, estates and a part of the industrial enterprises were turned over to self-- government committees made up of workers, veteran liberation fighters and toiling peasants.
Today the self-governing sector in agriculture embraces 2,000 farms and about 2,700,000 hectares of cultivated land which yield over 50 per cent of the agricultural output. The 180 self-governing sector in industry has more than 500 enterprises.
The state sector which is being established in industry in addition to the self-governing sector, embraces more than two-thirds of the total number of the nationalised mines, food industry enterprises and some enterprises of the chemical and building industry. The socialised sector accounts for 80 per cent of the value of the total (excluding oil) industrial production, 60 per cent of the agricultural output and the entire freight turnover.
Foreign capital is still present in the oil and gas industry. Algeria annually produces about 50 million tons of oil and over 3,000 million cu.m. of gas, the greater part of which is exported to Western Europe. In the oil and gas industry an increasing role is being played by a national company engaged in prospecting for oil and gas and their extraction, and the transportation and sales of oil products.
The adoption of the four-year economic development plan for 1970--1973 is playing an important part in stimulating industrialisation which is vital for Algeria's economy. A great deal of attention is being paid to the development of the key oil and gas, metallurgical, chemical and electricpower industries.
Algeria is creating her economy with foreign scientific and technological aid, much of which is furnished by socialist countries. About 80 projects, more than 60 of which are industrial enterprises, are going up in Algeria with Soviet scientific, technological and economic assistance. Soviet specialists are helping to put up a steel smelting shop at the iron and steel works in Anaba and to build dams across rivers. They are prospecting for oil, gas and other minerals, and training national personnel for Algeria's advancing economy.
The building of a new life in Algeria encounters certain difficulties. A complicated situation prevails in the private sector in agriculture which is still dominated by social contrasts between the landless peasants and wealthy landowners and where only a far-reaching agrarian reform could bring about the necessary socio-economic changes.
181 __ALPHA_LVL3__ Central and South AfricaThe countries of Central and South Africa account for two-thirds of the continent's area and population.
Area and Population of Some Countries of Central and South Africa Area (sq. km.) Population All countries of Central and South Africa 19,000,000 238,000,000 of which: Republic ofJGuiriea 250,000 4,000,000 People's Republic of the Congo 340,000 900,000 United Republic of Tanzania 940,000 13,300,000 Uganda 240,000 9,800,000 Republic of Zambia 750,000 4,200,000 Federal Republic of Nigeria 920,000 66,200,000Long years of oppression by West European colonialists have impeded the development of the African peoples and the formation of nationalities and nations. The existence of numerous ethnic groups divided by language barriers and tribal disunity is still a characteristic feature of Tropical Africa.
Economically, the countries of Tropical Africa are the most backward among the young national states. Agriculture, the source of livelihood for the overwhelming majority of their inhabitants, is also the principal source of export and a base for developing other branches of the economy. But in almost all countries of Tropical Africa agriculture is extensive, unproductive and cannot supply the population with sufficient quantities of food.
In order to achieve an upsurge in agriculture it is necessary to uproot the existing agrarian relations, abolish feudal landownership, deprive the foreign planters of their concessions and to improve the organisation of communal land 182 tenure. Unfavourable climatic conditions---excessive precipitation in the zone of the humid tropics and shortage of moisture in the arid areas---and numerous pests create additional difficulties for agricultural development.
The countries of Tropical Africa will be able to overcome their age-old economic backwardness only by creating national industries. Today the per capita industrial output in the African countries is a mere one twenty-fifth of that of the advanced capitalist states.
In promoting their industry and the economy as a whole African states are coming up against difficulties arising from their inadequately developed transport and communication system. Some countries have no railways and almost no motor, river and other transport. All this impedes economic co-operation between themselves and other states.
Though formally sovereign, many of the young national states in Tropical Africa are in fact politically, economically and militarily dependent on the major imperialist powers. But the number of the young national states which are decisively resisting the domination of foreign monopolies in order to pursue an independent policy is steadily growing. Among them a special place is occupied by young national states which have taken the non-capitalist road, such as Guinea, the Congo (Brazzaville), and others.
Guinea is situated in the extreme west of the African continent. During the slave-trade period millions of Africans were shipped from her coast and sold to American planters. On numerous occasions the people of Guinea rose in arms against the European colonialists. But it was only in 1958 that their liberation struggle led by the Democratic Party of Guinea resulted in the establishment of the independent Republic of Guinea with Conakry as its capital.
Fulfilling its programme the Democratic Party has put through a series of important measures which have created the prerequisites for the country's progressive development. Land owned by tribal chiefs has been given to the peasants who are encouraged to unite into co-operatives. The state 183 has nationalised foreign banks and insurance companies, a number of enterprises and transport facilities which were controlled by foreign capital, established monopoly over foreign trade and introduced planning, thus enabling the country to launch economic and cultural development designed to lead her out of economic backwardness.
Agriculture, which employs 90 per cent of the population, is still the principal branch of the economy. Guinea produces coffee, bananas, pineapples, oranges and lemons for export and rice, corn, manioc, batatas, vegetables and groundnuts for the domestic market. Other occupations are stock-breeding and fishing. Cotton, sugar cane, rubber and other industrial crops are produced in increasing quantities and the country is consolidating her food and agricultural raw materials base. Guinea is rich in bauxites, iron, diamonds, gold and other useful minerals which provide a foundation for the mining industry. Guinea is Africa's biggest producer of bauxites. Somewhat less developed is the manufacturing industry which consists of small enterprises processing agricultural raw materials. A cannery, a saw-mill, a meat-packing plant and a refrigerator have been built with Soviet assistance. A hydroelectric power scheme under construction on the Konkur will strengthen Guinea's power base and enable her to develop aluminium and other power-intensive industries. The new and the nationalised enterprises comprise the state sector which is playing an increasing part in industry and the whole of the economy.
The growth of the productive forces changes the social structure of the population. The working class is increasing in numbers and with the co-operative farmers and other sections of the working people is determined to overcome difficulties and work for the republic's economic and social progress.
A French colony in the past, the Republic of Mali is a young state in West Africa. French is the official language. A railway connects the capital Bamako on the Niger with the Atlantic port of Dakar in Senegal.
184The Sahara Desert covers almost three-quarters of Mali's extensive territory (over 1,200,000 sq. km.). The greater part of the country has a hot, arid climate and desert or semidesert vegetation. Savannah vegetation covers the southwestern region. Rice, corn, sorghum, batatas, manioc and other food crops are cultivated on the lands irrigated by the great Niger and Senegal rivers. Groundnuts, cotton and animal products are important items of export. Mali has more cattle (12 million head) than any other West African country. Stock-breeding is the principal branch of agriculture and is the occupation of 90 per cent of the population.
Industry is weakly developed, though Mali has all the essential natural resources. There are rook-salt and gold mines and also rich deposits of manganese and iron ores, and other raw materials for iron and steel production. The bauxite deposits near Bamako are large enough to warrant the construction of an aluminium factory. The chief branches of the manufacturing industry are cotton ginning, rice scouring and the production of butter and other animal products.
Now the principal task of the population which consists of more than a score of nationalities is to establish a modern economy. By carrying through socio-economic reforms the people of Mali will be able to overcome the country's ageold backwardness.
Proclaimed an independent republic in 1960, the Congo, capital Brazzaville, is a young national state.
The socio-economic reforms currently underway will undoubtedly alter the structure of its economy, whose chief branch is still semi-natural and natural agriculture engaged primarily in the production of consumer items such as manioc, batatas, millet, corn and rice and in smaller quantities coffee, cocoa beans, bananas and other items of export. The establishment of peasants' co-operatives, introduction of modern farming equipment and methods, intensification of farming and stock-breeding will largely stimulate the 185 development of agriculture in the People's Republic of the Congo.
Trie consolidation of the state sector in industry and the establishment of mixed companies will promote industrialisation and result in a general economic upsurge. There is everything necessary for this: large resources of valuable timber in the forests which cover almost half the republic, and the still little explored deposits of gold, lead, zinc, copper, iron and other minerals. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries are helping the republic to prospect for minerals, build the foundation for a modern economy, train national personnel and confidently advance along the road of social progress and national prosperity.
Nigeria, a young state in West Africa, has the biggest population among the continent's countries. A land of ancient African culture, Nigeria is inhabited by numerous nationalities including the Hausa, Fulbe, Kanuri and Tive people in the north, and Edo, Ibo, Efik and other people in the south.
Nigeria possesses considerable manpower resources and is rich in minerals. Lately, special significance has been attached to oil whose resources are estimated at more than 540 million tons. Otherwise, Nigeria, which has only recently freed herself from British rule, is an economically underdeveloped state.
As a result of colonial rule Nigeria is now facing tremendous difficulties. Upon withdrawing the imperialists left the country in the grip of acute inter-tribal conflicts and artificially fomented contradictions between the relatively developed south and the backward north. Taking advantage of internal strife, the pro-western separatist circles of the oil-rich eastern region with the support of the imperialists in 1966 declared its secession from the Federation and proclaimed it the "Independent Republic of Biafra".
Determined to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of the state, the federal government waged an armed struggle for two and a half years against the separatists and their 186 foreign benefactors. The civil war in Nigeria ended early in 1970 in the defeat of the separatists. But the war caused tremendous damage to the republic and retarded its economic development.
Compared with other Central African countries Nigeria has a relatively developed economy. Yet its principal branch is farming (groundnuts, palm oil, cocoa beans, natural rubber and foodstuffs) and animal husbandry. Industry (oil, columbite, tin) is dominated by foreign capital which is also in control of the country's trade. In recent years Nigeria has been promoting trade relations with the USSR and other socialist countries.
Thanks to the assistance of friendly countries, Nigeria is in a position to heal her war wounds and lead her people along the road of progress and prosperity.
Nature has been generous to Tanzania which has rich deposits of diamonds, gold and non-ferrous metals, and also iron, coal, phosphorites, graphite and other minerals all of which are still weakly developed. Tanzania's manufacturing industry consists of food and textile factories. Her agriculture supplies the world market with large quantities of copra, two-fifths of the world output of sizal hemp, over four-fifths of the clove and other products.
Having liberated herself from colonial rule and introduced a series of important reforms Tanzania was able to embark on economic and cultural development. The United Republic of Tanzania was formed in 1964 as a result of the union of the Republic of Tanganyika, and the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. In 1967 Tanzania nationalised foreign banks and large industrial enterprises, and put transport and other key branches of the economy under state control. Economic development is planned in the interests of the state sector.
The developing economic co-operation and friendship between the Soviet Union and Tanzania are helping the Tanzanian and other African peoples in their struggle for freedom, progress and national development.
187Momentous trends are appearing in the life of Tanzania's southern neighbour, the Republic of Zambia (until 1964 the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia). Zambia has the capitalist world's biggest resources of copper and ranks third in the production of this metal. Her copper industry, which yields about 50 per cent of the gross national product, is a source of enrichment for the monopolies in the United States and other western countries.
Zambia has partially nationalised foreign companies in the copper industry and established control over the oil companies. She is planning to introduce other important measures including the nationalisation of the land owned by foreigners who are not permanently resident in the country.
__b_b_b__The changes which have taken place in some of the above African countries show that the revolutionary conditions characteristic of our day and age have given rise to specific forms of progressive social development in the young independent states and enhanced the role of the revolutionarydemocratic forces. And although the developing states are faced with tremendous difficulties, more and more of them are taking to the road of progressive development and consolidating their domestic and international positions.
The example of the peoples who have oriented themselves towards socialism inspires the peoples of other African countries to fight for their national interests and at the same time multiplies the resistance of imperialist and neocolonialist circles. In their struggle against the African national liberation movement the imperialists are putting their stakes on the reactionary regimes in the Republic of South Africa (capital Pretoria) and Rhodesia (capital Salisbury), the strongholds of racialism and colonialism on the continent.
But thanks to the support of the progressive African countries and the world socialist system the peoples of Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, all South African peoples, are intensifying their armed revolutionary struggle for freedom and independence. The successes of the African people's national liberation revolution are so considerable 188 that they constitute a blow at the positions of imperialism and doom all its attempts to frustrate the carrying out of socio-economic reforms on the continent.
We have taken a look at almost all the countries of the world. And wherever people work---in luxurious tropical forests, in valleys between high mountains, in Africa's great expanses, or in cities---they think of a better life which capitalism cannot give them, of a new life which great Lenin had dreamed of and whose appearance he had predicted.
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LAVRISHCHEV A. Economic Geography of the USSR
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Natural resources and natural conditions of the USSR.
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[190]MIKHAJLOV N. Discovering the Soviet Union
The books of Nikolai Mikhailov, -a Soviet geographer and writer, have been translated into many languages. This volume will take the reader on a trip from the Baltic Sea to the Bering Straits, from the North Pole to the southernmost point of the Soviet Union along the Soviet-Afghan border. He will learn of the country's natural resources, the economy of the central regions and the national republics. There is much interesting information on national customs and the culture of the many nationalities that inhabit the Soviet Union, as well as on art, science, education and many other aspects of Soviet life.
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KSPIBCHENKO economic geography of the world
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