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p Comrades, a little under nine years have passed since representatives of the Communist Parties of all continents last gathered in order jointly to map out the further course of their revolutionary struggle. This has been an extremely important and eventful period. To us Communists it has brought many successes and opened up further possibilities for achieving the great aims of our movement. At the same time, this period has brought serious problems and complications.

p We have very closely followed the speeches made here in which the comrades touched on a number of major issues of the anti-imperialist struggle. We have been instructed by the Central Committee of the CPSU to expound here, in the light of the basic task to which the Meeting is devoted, our Party’s viewpoint on some problems of international development over the past few years.

p All of us are unanimous that as a social system imperialism has been and remains the chief obstacle to mankind’s historically inevitable advance to the triumph of freedom, peace and democracy.

p The peoples are presenting a grim bill to imperialism. Through its fault the vital problems that face mankind in acute form remain unresolved though they could be successfully settled already today. Imperialism has been and remains the chief adversary not only of the communist movement but of all fighters for the rights of the working people, for the deliverance of the peoples from social and national oppression.

p The social substance of imperialism and its place in history are clear to us Communists. However, to chart a concrete programme of anti-imperialist struggle it is not enough to have a correct understanding of the essence and nature of imperialism. It is also necessary to make a close analysis of the new phenomena and deep-going processes taking place in the capitalist world. The Leninist theory of imperialism provides the key to an understanding of the specific features distinguishing imperialism at its present stage of development.

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p What may be said of the features of imperialism over the past decade? Wherein lie its strength and weakness in our day and, the main thing, what makes it a menace to the peoples?

p The growth of socialism’s might, the abolition of colonial regimes, and pressure by the working-class movement increasingly influence the inner processes and policies of imperialism. Many important features of modern imperialism can be explained by the fact that it is compelled to adapt itself to new conditions, to the conditions of struggle between the two systems.

p First and foremost, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that the imperialism of our day still has a powerful and highly developed production mechanism. We cannot afford to ignore the fact that modern imperialism makes use also of the possibilities placed before it by the increasing fusion of the monopolies with the state apparatus. The programming and forecasting of production, state financing of technological progress and scientific research and steps aimed at achieving a certain restriction of market anarchy in the interests of the biggest monopolies are becoming more and more widespread. In some countries this is leading to a certain enhancement of the effectiveness of social production.

p The economic, scientific and technological achievements of the socialist countries and the class struggle are compelling capitalism to make some concessions to the working people in the social sphere. It thus seeks to camouflage the rising level of exploitation of the working people. Monopoly capitalism thereby tries to avert social and economic upheavals fraught with the greatest danger to the bourgeois system.

p To meet the challenge of socialism and strengthen their positions, the imperialists are combining their efforts on an international scale and having recourse to various forms of economic integration. International monopoly associations are being set up with the support and participation of bourgeois governments. Imperialist military and political alliances are becoming more active.

p It goes without saying that today, despite all this, the ineradicable inter-imperialist contradictions remain a vital law governing capitalist society. These contradictions are made all the more acute by the circumstance that the reciprocal penetration of capital of these countries is intensifying 159 and the interdependence of their national economies is increasing. The growth of contradictions between the imperialist powers finds expression particularly in the weakening of aggressive military blocs, chiefly NATO.

p As a whole, however, under conditions of the deepening general crisis of capitalism, a certain shift of the centre of gravity of imperialism’s strategy is taking place in the world arena. The policies of imperialism are being increasingly determined by the class objectives of its general struggle against world socialism, the national liberation revolutions and the working-class movement.

p There is no doubt at all that imperialism will continue to look for new possibilities for prolonging its existence. We cannot ignore all this in our policy.

p However, in speaking of these aspects of modern imperialism without underrating the strength and potentialities of our adversary, we consider that neither must they be overrated. The deep-rooted, truly ineradicable inner contradictions undermining capitalism, chiefly the contradiction between labour and capital, are becoming more and more acute precisely in our day. Under the onslaught of the forces of socialism and democracy its positions in the world continue to grow weaker. Today, more fully than ever before, it is exposing itself as a system of social and national inequality, oppression and violence.

p Massively socialising production and centralising its management, state-monopoly capitalism is carrying to extremes the basic contradiction of the bourgeois system, the contradiction between the social nature of production and the private mode of appropriation. The unnatural character of the situation in which production complexes, some of which serve more than one country, remain the private property of a handful of millionaires and billionaires is becoming increasingly evident to the peoples. The need for replacing capitalist by socialist relations of production is becoming ever more pressing.

p The further imperialism goes in its attempts to adapt itself to the situation, the deeper become its inner social and economic antagonisms. The development of capitalist economy is marked by periodic recessions. The unevenness and onesidedness of the development of individual countries are becoming more pronounced. All this cannot fail to engender serious difficulties within these countries and boost the growth 160 of contradictions between them. This is shown by the constant budget deficits, the extremely acute outbursts of currency and financial crises, and the rising cost of living and inflation which in the 1960s have become a chronic disease in many capitalist countries. This disease is now frequently called "creeping crisis".

p Imperialism’s inability to deliver mankind from poverty and need, abolish unemployment and ensure the working people and small proprietors a life free of fear of the morrow is particularly striking against the background of the unparalleled potentialities being opened by the present development of science and technology. To a steadily growing number of people it is becoming clear that capitalism neither can nor will ever admit the working people to real participation in the running of production and public affairs. It is growing more and more obvious that imperialism is leading towards an unprecedented decline of society’s cultural and moral values.

p The monopolies use the increased possibilities of production, science and technology for their own selfish ends—to intensify the exploitation of the people, strengthen the apparatus of violence over them and reinforce the machinery of military aggression and adventures. The social gulf between the handful of top monopolies and the huge masses of the working class and all other working people continues to grow wider. In other words, the imperialist system is a permanent and ineradicable threat to the conditions of life and the very existence of the broadest masses in the capitalist countries, where acute class conflicts break out with increasing frequency.

p The trend, intrinsic to imperialism, to abolish democratic freedoms and towards the fascisation of social and political life likewise harbours a tremendous threat to the peoples. Lenin emphasised that reaction all along the line is inherent in imperialism. In the 1960s a great deal of new convincing evidence of this has come to the fore.

p The influence of the so-called military-industrial complex, i.e., the alliance of the largest monopolies with the military in the state apparatus, is growing rapidly in the most developed capitalist states. This sinister alliance is increasingly pressuring the policy of many imperialist countries, making it still more reactionary and aggressive.

p Where the exploiters find themselves unable to ensure the 161 “order” required by them within the framework of bourgeois democracy, power is placed in the hands of openly terrorist regimes of the fascist type. There are many examples of this in our day. These regimes enjoy the financial and political support of the ruling circles of imperialist powers and of the top monopolies.

p Today imperialism is the greatest threat to the freedom and independence of the peoples of the foTmer colonies as well. Even today, after the collapse of the foundations of imperialism’s colonial system, the pillaging of the natural resources and the exploitation of the labour of the population of the weaker and less developed countries remains an inalienable feature of imperialism, although the imperialists are now compelled to act more craftily and disguise their pillage. The resistance of the peoples of the newly independent countries to the policy of neo-colonialism creates a new and important front of the anti-imperialist struggle.

p One of imperialism’s gravest threats to the peoples of the whole world is that of another world war.

p Militarism has always been part and parcel of imperialism. But today it has acquired truly unparalleled proportions. It is the fault of imperialism that the labour of many millions of people, the brilliant achievements of the human intellect, of the talent of scientists, researchers and engineers, are used not for the benefit of mankind, for promoting progress and the remaking of life on earth, but for barbarous, reactionary purposes, for the needs of war, the greatest of calamities for the peoples. These, comrades, are not empty words but real facts. Suffice it to say that during the past five years US military expenditures amounted to nearly 350,000 million dollars, or 20 per cent more than the total during the Second World War. Yet today the imperialist governments are drawing up new plans for building up armaments over decades to come. Implementation of these plans will be a further heavy burden on the shoulders of the working people and increase the threat of another world war.

p In the 1960s alone the USA and other imperialist states have launched armed attacks on Vietnam, Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Arab countries—this list can be continued.

p Combined with the stockpiling by the principal imperialist powers of weapons of mass annihilation, the policy of 162 military gambles makes the imperialism of our day a constant menace to world peace, a threat to the lives of many millions of people, to the existence of whole nations. For that reason the struggle against imperialism is at the same time a struggle to deliver mankind from the threat of a world thermonuclear war. One of the cardinal tasks of the international communist movement is to head the struggle of the peoples for a lasting peace, and today, far from deminishing, the importance of this task constantly grows.

p We hold that it would be a gross error to underrate the threat of war created by imperialism, above all US imperialism, the main force of world reaction. Millions of people must be made to understand the implications for mankind of the imperialist policy of unleashing wars, the existence of aggressive blocs, the policy aimed at revising existing state frontiers and subversive activities against the socialist countries and the progressive regimes in the young national states. Our task is to see to it that the peoples not only appreciate the enormous danger of this policy of the imperialists but also that they multiply their efforts in the struggle to frustrate those aggressive designs.

p An extremely important form of the struggle against the threat of imperialism starting another world war is to organise a collective rebuff to the actions of the aggressors whenever they launch military adventures in any part of the world. The most striking example of this is the rebuff which US aggression has received in Vietnam. The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people against the interventionists has merged with the determined and effective military and economic assistance of the USSR and other socialist countries, and with the broad popular movement of solidarity with the victims of aggression which has started in almost all countries of the world, including the USA. The result of all this is that the aggressors are failing to achieve their aims and the war started by them is turning into a demonstration of their bankruptcy.

p This, comrades, vividly shows that failure awaits the aggressive actions of imperialism if the Communists of different countries act in the same direction and mobilise the popular masses for an active struggle.

p Today imperialism is opposed by mighty forces, which are conducting uninterrupted offensives against it. Allow me to deal with some problems of the struggle of the main 163 revolutionary contingents of modern times against imperialism.

p Comrades, all of us base ourselves on the fact that the world socialist system is the leading revolutionary force and the mainstay of the anti-imperialist movement. The sharper the confrontation between the new and the old world, the greater becomes the importance of utilising all the potentialities of the new social system, strengthening the might of the socialist countries and broadly and all-sidedly coordinating their efforts.

p The 1960s will occupy a special place in the history of world socialism. It was in this decade that many fraternal countries completed the foundations of socialism and went over to the building of developed socialist society. As it matures the socialist system more and more fully reveals the advantages of its economic, social and political organisation and its inherent genuine democracy. All this is a tangible and weighty contribution to our common cause, the cause of consolidating the anti-imperialist front.

p It is from this same angle that we examine a problem of paramount importance, that of strengthening the unity of the socialist states. One cannot fail to see that despite certain difficulties a healthy process of the consolidation of the socialist countries is under way, a process which finds concrete embodiment in the promotion of their all-round cooperation.

p Co-operation of this kind is a key factor in the development of each socialist country. At the same time, and this must be specially underscored, it is a powerful weapon in the anti-imperialist struggle and gives redoubled strength to all the fighters for peace and socialism.

p In many ways the situation on the front of the antiimperialist struggle is now determined by the course of the economic competition between socialism and capitalism. It may be said with gratification that in this sphere the socialist countries have scored many achievements. If we take, for instance, the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, we shall find that during the past ten years their national income has increased 93 per cent, while in the developed capitalist states the national income rose 63 per cent in the same period. Occupying 18 per cent of the world’s territory and having only 10 per cent of the world’s population, the CMEA countries now 164 account for approximately one-third of the world’s industrial product. On this foundation the people’s standard of living is rising and increasing possibilities are opening for further successful economic, scientific and cultural development.

p Parallel with his, economic co-operation between socialist countries is deepening and improving. In this sphere, as in the economic development of separate countries, the main accent today is on the qualitative aspect, on promoting the effectiveness of social production and economic relations. This task is served by the economic reforms being carried out in the European socialist countries. The same aim is pursued by the comprehensive long-term programme of further socialist integration, whose main lines were defined at a special CMEA session held recently in Moscow.

p Much has to be done to achieve these purposes. But we are on the right path and we are confident that by progressing along this path the community of fraternal countries will hasten the victory over capitalism in the economic sphere. The implementation of this task conforms not only to the interests of the socialist countries themselves but also to those of the world revolutionary struggle as a whole.

p Co-operation among socialist countries in foreign policy is an important factor of the anti-imperialist struggle. As practice has shown, this co-operation increases the influence exerted by socialism on the course of world development and enhances socialism’s role in the struggle against imperialism.

p Special mention must be made of the work carried out in this respect within the framework of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, that reliable instrument of the defence of socialism and peace. Over a number of years the Political Consultative Committee of that organisation has scrutinised key problems of international life, problems directly linked up with the strengthening of peace and the promotion of peaceful co-operation between peoples, with the struggle against the aggressive policy of imperialism. On a number of issues this joint work has helped our countries to secure considerable successes, which have strengthened the international positions of socialism and the cause of peace in Europe and the rest of the world.

p The struggle of socialist countries against imperialism is not only economic, ideological and political. Imperialism, 165 which has been and remains aggressive by nature, constantly enlarges its military machine and, as the events in Vietnam have shown, is prepared to put it to use. Strength, and not a little strength at that, is needed to defend socialist gains. That is why, like other fraternal Parties, the CPSU ceaselessly concerns itself with ensuring the steady growth of the socialist states’ defence might and with promoting close co-operation among them in the sphere of defence. This year important decisions have been taken to improve the control of the Warsaw Treaty armed forces. Co-ordination between the armed forces of the allied countries is being systematically perfected and their combat skill is growing. The armies of the Warsaw Treaty and other socialist countries are being equipped with the most up-to-date armaments.

p In this way, comrades, by collective effort the mighty weapon of the defence of the socialist states is forged in persevering struggle against the world of imperialism. It is, at the same time, a weapon of freedom for those who are waging an armed struggle against imperialism. Our strength is the bulwark of peace for everyone combating the threat of another world war. By defending socialism and peace we defend the future of mankind.

p Active relations between ruling Communist Parties are the nucleus, the cornerstone for promoting many-sided cooperation among socialist states. In recent years the contacts between the leaderships of our Parties have acquired a more operative, comradely and businesslike character. Practically all problems of any essential significance which are of common interest are discussed collectively. Naturally, this helps to work out the most effective solutions, averts possible mistakes and deepens understanding between us.

p The Communist Parties of socialist countries are carrying out responsible tasks. Bearing aloft the banner of MarxismLeninism, the Communists and the peoples of the fraternal countries are multiplying their achievements in economic, scientific and cultural development, in evolving new forms of genuine rule by the people. The importance of this work, which creates the prototype of the future life of all mankind, is truly hard to overestimate.

p We support and shall continue to support our friends of the socialist countries who are contending with difficult conditions—the Vietnamese comrades, who have for several 166 years been directing the historic battle against the US aggressors; the Communists of Cuba, who are courageously building socialism in a situation marked by unceasing subversive activities, economic blockade and political pressure by US imperialism; the Workers’ Party of Korea, which has to repulse inremitting provocations by the US imperialists and their Seoul puppets. We invariably support and closely co-operate with the German Democratic Republic, which directly confronts German revanchism.

p Allow me wholeheartedly to wish further successes to the Communists of all fraternal socialist countries who by their efforts strengthen the common front of our struggle against imperialism.

p Comrades, the achievements of world socialism are indisputable. At the same time, it is common knowledge that in the development of the world socialist system there are difficulties as well. Permit me to dwell on this question in somewhat greater detail.

p Lenin emphasised that the road to socialism "will never be straight, it will be incredibly involved".  [166•1  The CPSU, which had to be the first to blaze the road to socialism, knows from its own experience that this is not an easy road. After all, this road involves a fundamental break with many age-old traditions affecting the interests of all classes and social groups, the creation of an absolutely new type of social relations and the bringing up of people with a new psychology, a new world outlook. It involves, especially where relations between states are concerned, the surmounting of age-old national strife and distrust.

p Life itself and the practice of socialist transformations have shown that the seizure of political power by the proletariat and the socialisation of the means of production only create the objective prerequisites, the objective possibilities for resolving all these problems. The way these possibilities are realised in practice depends chiefly on the ruling Communist Parties, on their ability to resolve in a Marxist, in a Leninist way the complex problems posed by life. This ability does not come at once. It comes as a result of generalising the practical experience of the people, as a result of thought and an analysis of the traversed road and of possible prospects.

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p But it is not only a matter of the objective complexity of the very process of building socialism and new relations between socialist countries. Many of the difficulties which these countries encounter in the course of their development are closely linked with imperialism’s constant striving to pressure the socialist world, to exert economic, political and ideological pressure on it. The attempts of the imperialists to undermine the positions of socialism from within and inject elements of discord and alienation into relations between socialist countries do not cease for a single day. Wherever vigilance is blunted, where Communists underestimate the need for a class approach to social phenomena, the intrigues of the imperialists lead to definite results—to the activation of Right-opportunist and even openly antisocialist elements and to the intensification of nationalistic sentiments.

p However, none of the difficulties arising during the building of socialism in one country or another have been able to or can cancel the general principles underlying socialist development. The practice of the socialist countries has reaffirmed the significance of the ideas of Marx and Lenin that the development of socialist society proceeds on the basis of general laws, that in one form or another the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., state leadership of the building of socialism by the working class, is inevitable during the entire period of transition from capitalism to socialism.

p The whole experience of the political struggle proves again and again that the victory of the trend towards consolidating fraternal relations between socialist states and the progress of the socialist system itself are indissolubly linked with the strengthening of the leading role of the Communist Parties in the building of socialism and communism. Our Party highly values the determined struggle which the Communists of fraternal countries wage against any attempts to weaken the leading role of the Communist Parties, replace socialist democracy with political liberalism of the bourgeois type and erode the positions of socialism. To be as firm as Lenin in defending and upholding the principles of socialism is a lesson life itself teaches us.

p We fully subscribe to the provision formulated in the draft of the Main Document that the main direction in cementing the socialist system is steadfastly to implement the principles of socialist internationalism, correctly combine 168 the national and international tasks of socialist countries and promote fraternal mutual assistance and support between them on the basis of consistent observance of the equality of all socialist countries, of their sovereignty and independence and of non-interference in their internal affairs.

p World socialism absorbs all the wealth and diversity of the revolutionary traditions and experience deriving from the creative activity of the working people of different countries. In this connection we should like to say that our Party constantly studies that experience and utilises everything of value that may be applied in the conditions obtaining in the Soviet Union, everything that really helps to strengthen the socialist system and embodies the general laws of socialist construction, which have been tested by international experience.

p Nobody can deny that the ruling Communist Parties have accomplished and are engaged in extensive work of historic significance. Naturally, it cannot be said that ways of resolving all problems have been found and that we know all and are able to do all. Life does not stand still. In place of resolved problems others arise, which are linked with the need for a further improvement of socialist social relations. Like other Communist Parties of socialist countries, the CPSU seeks to resolve these problems creatively, in good time and consistently in line with the principles of MarxismLeninism, taking into account the concrete conditions of its own country and the international situation.

p By working for a further strengthening of fraternal relations between sovereign and equal socialist states and mobilising the working people for fresh achievements in the building of socialism and communism, the Communist Parties directing the building of the new society fulfil their duty to their own peoples and their internationalist duty to the working class of the whole world.

p Comrades, one of the decisive sectors of the anti- imperialist struggle lies, naturally, in the capitalist countries themselves. The blows which the revolutionary forces are dealing imperialism in its very citadels are highly important for the whole of world development. The 1960s have introduced many new elements on this front of struggle as well.

p The sharpening of the class struggle in the capitalist world is an inexorable fact. Suffice it to say that from 1960 to 1968 a total of over 300 million persons took part in strike 169 struggles, as compared with 150 million over the preceding 14 years. This fact alone gives the lie to the assertions about a weakening of the working class’s fighting spirit.

p It is important, comrades, to emphasise yet another specific feature of this period. Not long ago there were countries in the capitalist world which the bourgeoisie regarded as havens of what they called "social peace”; there are no longer any such countries today. Everywhere the working people are fighting for their vital interests—from the United States, where there were almost 5,000 strikes last year, to Japan, where the working people’s "spring offensive" that same year involved 14 million persons; from France, where almost 10 million were on strike in May and June 1968, and Italy, where 18 million took part in the general strike in February 1969, to Uruguay and Chile, where massive strikes and demonstrations by working people flare up again and again.

p Of very great importance is the fact that the strikers have ever more frequently succeeded in imposing their demands on the capitalists. This lends the working people confidence in their strength, and stimulates the further development and extension of the front of struggle. The working class sees for itself that though the bourgeoisie goes on mounting counter-attacks, its strength is far from what it used to be.

p Under the changing world balance of forces and the sharpening of the class struggle in the bourgeois countries, capitalism has to resort to new means and methods of struggle which in many ways appear even to clash with the conventional “classic” features of the capitalist system. In an effort to reinforce their social hinterland areas, the capitalists combine methods of suppression with partial satisfaction of the working people’s demands—a method which Lenin said was one of "concessions of the unessential while retaining the essential"  [169•1 —sowing the illusion that the working class can achieve its aspirations through agreements with the employers, without a revolutionary transformation of society, within the framework of the capitalist system.

p Quite a few people in many capitalist countries fall captive to these illusions. It is, after all, a fact, for instance, that at election time a sizable section of the workers cast their votes for capitalist candidates and their placemen. But 170 for all the machinations of the capitalists, the social struggles in the 1960s showed signs of shifts in favour of the revolutionary forces whose importance it is hard to exaggerate.

p In this situation Communists face new problems and tasks whose successful solution will largely predetermine the further development of the struggle for the working-class cause.

p First of all, as many fraternal Parties have correctly noted, the communist movement must draw conclusions from the incontestable fact that in the capitalist world there is a sharp increase of massive popular pressure for social change. And it is characteristic that the class struggle is intertwining ever closer with action by working people against the imperialists’ military gambles, against the resurgence of fascism, for the safeguarding and extension of democratic freedoms, and for national independence.

p The antagonism between imperialism, which intensifies social oppression and rejects democracy, and the masses, who are fighting for their vital rights and striving for freedom and democracy, is growing sharper. In some countries popular discontent is so great that sometimes as little as a spark is enough to set off a powerful social explosion. Such explosions are becoming ever more frequent, also in the United States, where the most acute social contradictions, the struggle against the war in Vietnam and the fight for Negro civil rights, are tangled in a tight knot. It is a long time since imperialism has been confronted with such violent forms of social protest and with general democratic action of the present scale and pitch. Ever more frequently broad masses of peasants, intellectuals, white-collar workers, students and urban middle strata actively join with the working class in this struggle.

p In these conditions, it is inevitable that elements of surprise and spontaneity should arise in the course of the antiimperialist struggle in the advanced capitalist countries. Experience shows that in such a situation special importance attaches to the problem of relations between the working class and its allies. This is a question both of jointly taking various concrete political actions and of planning long-term co-operation on a mutually acceptable basis.

p As the draft Main Document correctly says, the prerequisites are emerging for uniting all democratic trends in a 171 political alliance capable of decisively limiting the role of the monopolies in the economy of countries, putting an end to big capital rule and carrying out fundamental transformations which would ensure favourable conditions for the struggle for socialism.

p The working class is the leading force of the alliance. It is the only class capable of leading this alliance to victory, and of raising the struggle to a new level, securing the complete abolition of the power of capital and the triumph of socialism. No other class, no other social stratum of society is as organised and strong. The numerical strength of the working class is enormous. Its revolutionary experience is exceptionally rich. Its ideological, cultural and spiritual level has been rising from year to year. The political and moral prestige enjoyed by it in society has grown immeasurably.

p While intensifying their work in the midst of the working class, including the rather sizable section of it which is not unionised, the Communist Parties in the capitalist countries devote much attention to their activity in the most diverse mass organisations to which workers belong—co-operatives, sports clubs, and democratic circles of religious bodies taking part in the struggle for peace—in short, wherever there are large numbers of working people.

p Work in the midst of the peasant masses of the capitalist states continues to be of great importance. The working peasants remain the chief allies of the working class, despite the fact that their number has declined considerably in the advanced capitalist countries. The concentration of agricultural production in the hands of big entrepreneurs entails ever spreading ruin of the small and middle farmers and an aggravation of social contradictions in the countryside. In many capitalist countries the 1960s were marked by largescale peasant strikes, with the peasants fighting for their rights more and more frequently calling for unity of action with the working class.

p Many aspects of work with the intelligentsia, especially with that section of it which together with the working class is engaged in industry and is being subjected to growing exploitation, should be seen in their new context. The professions requiring mental work are becoming more widespread. The engineering and technical intelligentsia in the capitalist countries is now being drawn not only from the 172 bourgeoisie but also from the middle sections and in part from among the working people as well. To a considerable extent all this is changing the intelligentsia’s attitude to the capitalist system and bringing its interests closer to those of the working class.

p The Communist Parties must take these changes into account. Experience has shown that more extensive work with the intelligentsia makes it more active in the anti- imperialist struggle.

p It is natural that the fraternal Parties now devote considerable attention to work among the young people. It is a fact that the rising generation in the capitalist countries, including the students, is in revolutionary ferment. Young people are actively coming out in opposition to imperialist wars, to the militarisation of bourgeois society, and to the attempts of the bourgeoisie to curtail the working people’s democratic rights.

p It is true that frequently youth actions reveal a lack of political experience and are not linked with the vanguard of the revolutionary struggle. That is why these actions often lack organisation and assume politically immature forms. Extremist elements, essentially hostile to communism, and sometimes direct imperialist agents try to exploit this. There is no doubt, however, that once the young fighters against imperialism have mastered the theory of scientific socialism and have acquired experience of class battles, they will do great things.

p Consequently, there is every indication that the possibilities of the anti-imperialist struggle are extending. The experience of a number of fraternal Parties, which have made skilful use of these new possibilities, testifies that prospects for the activity of the Communists in capitalist countries are broad. If we take the latest developments, for example, this is borne out by one-fifth of all the votes polled in the first round of the French presidential election by Comrade Jacques Duclos, prominent French Communist Party figure and veteran of the international communist movement.

p The increasing possibilities of combating imperialism accordingly increase the role of the Communist Parties and of their work among the masses. On the activity of Communists will largely depend world development in the closing third of the twentieth century. One cannot fail to see that not only the material but also the socio-political conditions 173 are maturing for a revolutionary replacement of capitalism with the new social system, for socialist revolutions.

p By closing the fighting ranks of staunch revolutionaries carrying Marxist-Leninist ideology into the midst of the working-class masses and rallying the allies of the working class round it, Communists fulfil their historic mission in the struggle against imperialism, for the triumph of socialism.

p Comrades, the fighters for national liberation and social emancipation in the countries of Asia and Africa constitute one of the important and active contingents of the worldwide anti-imperialist front.

p The 1960s have brought considerable changes into the alignment of forces in that part of the world. In this period, 44 former colonies won independence. But more than 35 million people remain in colonial slavery. The peoples of the last colonies are waging a heroic and, as a rule, armed struggle for their liberation. Soviet Communists fully support this just struggle.

p The socialist orientation of a number of young states of Africa and Asia is an important achievement of the revolutionary forces and a heavy defeat for imperialism. These countries have scored their first successes in carrying through deep-going social and economic reforms, thereby providing fresh practical confirmation of the Leninist conclusion that in our epoch the peoples who win liberation from colonial oppression can advance along the path of social progress by-passing capitalism. One of the most important conditions which make such development possible is co-operation between the progressive young states and the socialist countries.

p The states which have embarked on non-capitalist development are making a tangible contribution to the anti- imperialist struggle. It is true that these states are still few and that there are many difficulties in their development. Apart from the serious internal problems which remain, it should be borne in mind that it is above all against the progressive states of Africa and Asia that the subversive policy of imperialism on these continents is directed. But whatever the difficulties, they cannot minimise the importance of the cardinal fact that a start has been made in a fundamentally new direction for the development of the newly independent countries. And their example will carry the greater conviction the more headway the revolutionarydemocratic countries make in their economic and cultural 174 development, the fuller the advantages of non-capitalist development are revealed.

p Communists regard assistance to and support of these young countries as one of the most important tasks of their foreign policy. What the Communist and Workers’ Parties of the socialist countries have been doing in this direction is generally known. Considerable possibilities in this respect are also open to the fraternal Parties in the developed capitalist countries.

p In a number of countries of the former colonial world, as a result of inadequate organisation or of passive attitudes by the progressive forces, power was seized, after the proclamation of political independence, by reactionary elements closely linked up with imperialism. Some of these countries are ruled by military dictatorships, and a reign of terror has been instituted against all progressive forces. The imperialist states use the territories of many of these countries for their aggressive purposes, notably for military bases. The conditions of struggle for Communists and their allies in these countries are in many respects similar to the conditions of the colonial period.

p However, it can probably be said that a considerable part of the states liberated from colonial dependence have not yet clearly defined their further path. An intense struggle for the future rages in these countries between the progressive forces and internal reaction supported by imperialism. The process of internal social division is deepening there. The working people are ever more actively demanding far-reaching reforms capable of providing answers to burning fundamental problems. On the other hand, the top crust of the national bourgeoisie, guided by its class interests, resists social progress and the pursuit of any consistent anti-imperialist line. An increasingly acute class struggle is unfolding on this basis.

p The tasks now facing the newly independent countries are complex and diverse. It is a question of consolidating the independence they have won, securing the establishment of an independent national economy and overcoming the legacy of backwardness. All this can be achieved only through progressive social development and consistent struggle against imperialism, through an alliance with the socialist countries and the international working-class movement.

p Imperialism is actively working to slow down the advance towards independence and social progress, to keep its 175 former colonies within the framework of the capitalist system, and to retain them as objects of exploitation, even if in modified form. With their stake on nationalism and separatism, the imperialist forces are trying to weaken the developing countries from within, to range them against each other and to hamper their contacts with the socialist world.

p All this is a most grave threat to the future of the young independent countries. Their peoples are gradually coming to realise that neo-colonialism is no lesser a danger than colonialism. This means that ahead lie most acute battles between the fighters for real freedom and those who would like to fetter the young national states with the chains of a new bondage. In this struggle, the formation of a sound alliance of all progressive, all anti-imperialist forces acquires crucial importance.

p The central question of the revolutionary process in Asia and Africa today is that of the attitude of the peasantry, which make up a majority of the population.

p The peasants in that part of the world are a mighty revolutionary force, but in most cases they are an elemental force, with all the ensuing vacillations and ideological and political contradictions. Nor could it have been otherwise for the time being, because the great majority of the peasantry still lives in conditions of monstrous poverty, denial of rights and surviving feudal and sometimes even prefeudal relations.

p The experience of the revolutionary movement in various parts of the world has shown that the surest way of effectively involving the peasants in the struggle against imperialism, for true social progress, is to establish a strong alliance between them and the working class. That is also the task in the zone of national liberation.

p However, history has shaped the situation in such a way that in most states of Asia and Africa there is still no largescale industry, and a working class is yet to emerge. But wherever industrial development is under way, the working-class movement has won substantial positions. The agricultural proletariat of these countries is also active in the struggle. There is no doubt that in the young national states ahead lies the broadest development of the working-class struggle against imperialism and its allies. It is the workingclass movement that will ultimately play the decisive part in this area of the world too.

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p The alliance of the working class and the peasantry will make it possible to carry the national liberation revolutions to the end, totally eliminate the legacy of colonialism, and make the movement to socialism more confident and purposeful.

p A great responsibility devolves on us Communists in this sphere. Tremendous attention to the proletariat’s peasant ally, and additional elaboration of some aspects of strategy and tactics in application to the specific conditions in the former colonial countries is demanded of the communist movement..

p In present-day conditions, the problem of relations between the working class and the peasantry in the former colonial countries is largely of an international nature. It is a question of consolidating the alliance of the whole international working class with the peasantry, with all the working people of the young liberated countries. This includes the strengthening of the revolutionary alliance between the national liberation movement, the young national states and the countries of the socialist community, and the promotion of the closest ties between the fighters for national liberation and the Communist Parties acting as the vanguard of the international working class.

In this context we attach great importance to contacts and ties between the Communist Parties and the revolutionary-democratic parties in the developing countries. These parties and organisations are our fellow-fighters in the struggle against imperialism, for social progress. At present, the CPSU has contacts and ties with 18 national-democratic parties, while Soviet mass organisations have connections with democratic organisations in all countries of that part of the world. We believe everything has to be done to promote closer relations between the Communist Parties and the revolutionary-democratic parties.

p Thus, comrades, a realistic assessment of the present state of affairs in the world, a comparison between the development of imperialism, on the one hand, and all the forces opposing it, on the other, warrant only one conclusion: the main lines of world development continue to be determined by the activity of the forces of revolution and socialism, of the peace forces and the national liberation movement.

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p Communists, of course, cannot be complacent and smug. We are well aware that ahead of us lies an intense struggle in the most diverse sectors. And the role of the revolutionary vanguard of the working class is to make sure not to lose touch with the actual conditions of this struggle, correctly define its principal stages and motive forces and rouse the masses to the battle against imperialism.

For the Communist and Workers’ Parties the struggle against imperialism is inseparable from the struggle for our ultimate goals, for the winning of political power by the working class in alliance with all the other contingents of the working people, for socialism. We believe that cohesion of the Communists of the world, the strengthening of the alliance of all the anti-imperialist forces, is the key to success.