p November 25, 1969

p Dear comrades,

p Allow me heartily to congratulate you on the opening of the Third USSR Congress of Collective Farmers, and wish it success. (Prolonged applause.) A congress of the collectivefarm peasantry of the Soviet Union is an important political event in the life of our country, of the entire Soviet people; it undoubtedly will play a big part in further developing the collective-farm system and successfully accomplishing the tasks of communist construction.

p The composition of the Congress delegates mirrors the living history of collectivisation, the birth and triumph of socialism in the countryside.

p We see here veterans of the collective-farm movement, those who spared no effort to cope with tremendous difficulties and rally the peasants to build the new life. Their courage, their loyalty to the precepts of Lenin, to which they adhered through all the years of struggle and trials, are highly appreciated by the Party and the Soviet people. (Applause.)

p Present in this hall are also representatives of the middle generation of the collective-farm peasantry. Together with the veterans, they bore the full brunt of the grim years of the Great Patriotic War and restoration of the war-wrecked economy.

p Our most heartfelt words we address to the women collective farmers whose labour exploit, especially during the war against fascism, was a tremendous contribution to the common victory over the enemy. (Applause.)

p Among the Congress delegates are representatives of the young guard of the collective-farm peasantry. We associate with it the future of our socialist countryside. We are deeply convinced that the collective-farm youth, in carrying on the work of the older generation and adding to their experience, will be able correctly to apply their knowledge, their constructive elan in the great cause of building communism. (Applause.)

p The composition of the Congress delegates reflects one of the greatest achievements of the Leninist Party—the fraternal and unbreakable friendship of the peoples of our multinational land. All the nationalities of our country are represented at this Congress. (Applause.)

p We cordially welcome our dear guests, representatives of the peasantry of socialist states and other countries—our class brothers and brothers in struggle. (Applause.)

p The Third USSR Congress of Collective Farmers is in the centre of attention of the Soviet and world public. It is significant that all Soviet people—collective farmers, workers, engineers and technicians, scientists and culture workers—took part in the discussion which developed over the draft Rules and other questions of collective-farm life.

p We note with satisfaction that at meetings, at regional and territorial conferences and republican congresses, the collective farmers voiced unanimous approval of the Party’s policy framed by the 23rd Congress and plenary meetings of the Central Committee of the CPSU. They regard it as the main condition for an upsurge of the country’s agriculture.

p The Third USSR Congress of Collective Farmers has met at a memorable time, when our entire country and all progressive mankind are preparing to celebrate the birth centenary of the great leader and teacher Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. (Prolonged applause.}

p No one understood so deeply the interests and aspirations of the working peasantry as Lenin did; he saw in the peasantry a dependable ally of the working class in the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the building of socialism.

The peasantry of the Land of Soviets, devoted to Lenin’s ideas, demonstrated to the world that it is a militant and steadfast ally of the working class. Shoulder to shoulder with the workers, the Soviet peasantry transformed the 232 country, consolidated and defended socialism and now is building a communist society. (Prolonged applause.}