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p The socialist system’s leading role in the development of the world revolutionary process and in international politics accentuates the importance of the question of how the socialist system itself develops and what laws determine the processes taking place in it. Today when socialism exists as a world system uniting many countries in three continents— Europe, Asia and America—we know its salient features and specifics, many of which have been spelled out scientifically. The theory and practice of world socialism have embodied and borne out the forecasts of the classics of Marxism-Leninism.

p When Marx, Engels and Lenin drew their picture of the future development of world socialism their point of departure was that the relations between socialist states, united by the common aim of eradicating capitalism and building socialism, would differ qualitatively from the relations between capitalist countries. Lenin advocated the broadest cooperation and alliance between countries committed to socialism. In an article entitled “Slogan for a United States of Europe" he wrote: “The times when the cause of democracy and socialism was associated only with Europe alone have gone for ever.

p “A United States of the World (not of Europe alone) is the state form of the unification and freedom of nations which we associate with socialism—until the time when the complete victory of communism brings about the total disappearance of the state, including the democratic.”  [269•* 

p Lenin did not, of course, elaborate widely on the question of the relations between the future socialist states for the simple reason that no concrete experience of such relations existed in his day. This problem acquired its full stature only in subsequent decades, with the appearance of a group of socialist countries.

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p The Communist and Workers’ parties closely analyse the various aspects of the joint struggle, interaction and reciprocal assistance of the socialist countries and their influence on the course of the revolutionary process. In recent years the fraternal parties of the socialist countries have been dealing broadly with the problem of a developed socialist society, the scientific and technological revolution under socialism, the full-scale building of communism, and so forth.

p Problems connected with the development of world socialism received close attention at the international meetings of Communist and Workers’ Parties in 1957, 1960 and 1969.

p Generalising the then 15 years’ experience of the socialist countries and the trends of their development, and generalising the theoretical conclusions of the fraternal parties and the practice of their leadership of socialist construction, the 1960 International Meeting noted that the world socialist system had entered a new stage of its development. Some socialist countries had started building a developed socialist society, while the Soviet Union was making successful headway in the full-scale building of communism. The complete victory of socialism was ensured within the socialist system, whose advantages were being strikingly demonstrated to the peoples oppressed by capitalism. The major tasks of the economic development of world socialism were outlined in the Meeting’s Statement. These were the consistent application of the law of planned and proportionate development in the building of socialism; the encouragement of the creative initiative of the masses; the steady improvement of the international division of labour through the co-ordination of economic development plans and the specialisation and co-operation of production within the framework of the system as a whole; the study of collective experience; the attainment of closer co- operation and fraternal mutual assistance; the gradual erasure, on this basis, of the historically shaped distinctions in the levels of economic development and the creation of the material foundation for the more or less simultaneous transition of all peoples of the socialist system to communism. At the new stage of development the socialist countries were improving all aspects of economic, political and 271 cultural co-operation on the basis of complete equality, mutual benefit and comradely reciprocal assistance. The Statement stressed that in the sphere of politics the principles of socialist internationalism had to be correctly combined with socialist patriotism.

p The 1969 Meeting pinpointed a number of new features in the formation and development of a mature socialist society, namely: 

p (a) The elaboration and application of improved economic and political patterns. For a number of years most of the European socialist countries, including the Soviet Union, had been successfully effecting reforms in the management and planning of the national economy, and this has been influencing all aspects of the life of socialist society. Many factors had combined to make these reforms necessary: the scientific and technological revolution and the higher level of sophistication attained by production and by production links, the full utilisation of the sources of extensive growth, the need for a closer co-ordination of state interests with those of enterprises and individuals, and the need for mobilising additional reserves in order to win time in the competition with capitalism. The purpose of these reforms is to improve centralised planning, achieve a transfer to planning on a self-supporting basis, give greater independence to enterprises, set up self-supporting associations, extend the sphere of socialist commodity-money relations, provide greater material incentives, and so on.

p (b) An enhancement of the leading role of the working class and its vanguard, the Communist Party. This stems from the proletariat’s higher level of organisation and consciousness and from the important changes in its composition as a result of the scientific and technological revolution and of the increased impact of the subjective factor on social development.

p (c) Extension of the rights of the individual and the all-round development of socialist democracy as a result of successful economic and cultural development and the abolition of forces hostile to socialism.

p (d) Greater vigilance with regard to the enemies of socialism, who do not relinquish their attempts to undermine the foundations of socialist state power. Anti- socialist activity is nourished by elements of nationalism sustained 272 by backward consciousness and the viability of prejudices, including national prejudices; by people who had formerly belonged to the bourgeoisie and are, as Lenin pointed out, the most nationalistic; by imperialist and revisionist propaganda; by the activities of the Church, and so on.

p The formation of the new, socialist type of international relations is analysed in all its complexity in the Document of the 1969 Meeting, which indicated the reasons for the non-coincidence of the direct interests of individual socialist countries. Among these reasons are the distinctions in the level of economic development, in the social structure, and in the international position of the various countries, and also distinctions springing from national specifics, and so forth. At the same time, the transient nature of these distinctions is noted in the Document, which stresses the coincidence of the basic interests and aims of the socialist countries and points out that comradely discussion and voluntary fraternal co-operation are the basic means for settling disagreements.

p In the socialist countries much is being done to study the different aspects of the life of the socialist community, analyse the new principles governing the relations between the socialist countries and the principles underlying their economic relations and foreign policy, and study the experience of co-operation within the framework of the Warsaw Treaty and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

p The socialist community’s development gives rise to new theoretical and practical problems. Research is making headway in bringing to light deep-rooted laws of world socialism linked with the solution of the problems of the economic, political and ideological .development of the system of socialist states.

p We feel that the accumulated experience of the development of international socialism makes it possible to single out a number of characteristic laws reflecting the new level of development, which is higher than the development level of socialism within national boundaries. These laws show that following socialism’s emergence on the international scene its economic and political might has increased while the substance of its basic economic and political laws remained unchanged.

p The fundamental law of world socialism is that the 273 principles of internationalism underlie the national policy of the socialist states. In both internal and external policy the actions of the socialist countries are determined by the interests of the socialist community as a whole. This law derives from the following circumstances.

p —Socialism is, by its very nature, an international phenomenon. Its ideals are friendship and fraternity among peoples, mutual assistance and the creation of a single brotherhood of people. Marxism-Leninism is the ideology of all socialist countries. An advantage of the socialist social system is that socialist internationalism is the foundation on which the national interests of each socialist country may be co-ordinated with the common interests of the socialist community. As it is understood by Marxism-Leninism, socialism combines the national and international interests of the proletariat and other working people.

p —Socialism is an international phenomenon by its economic laws. Competition that divides the capitalist countries does not exist under socialism. Socialism does not harbour objective obstacles to the broadest economic cooperation or to the abolition of class, political and national barriers.

p —From the very moment of its emergence socialism has been standing opposed to capitalism. Socialism is the antipode of capitalism and inevitably constitutes an international force. Ever since the October Revolution the world has been split into two camps. Each new socialist country cannot fail to become a member of the socialist community if its ideals are not distorted and deformed by nationalism and opportunism.

p —Socialism acts in concert in defence of its achievements, in repulsing the pressure of the international counterrevolution and in helping revolutionary forces throughout the world.

p The birth of the socialist system was an objective need and the result of the powerful revolutionary upsurge during the Second World War, when the efforts of the working class were directed towards winning liberation from fascist oppression and carrying out far-reaching reforms restricting the power of the capitalists.

p The socialist countries developed under conditions in which the balance of economic strength was unfavourable 274 to socialism. During the Second World War the Soviet Union’s industrial capacities had suffered considerable loss while the USA’s industrial potential increased by 50 per cent and its agricultural output rose by one-third.  [274•*  The USA sought to win over the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe by promising them massive economic aid. Rejection of this aid led to a virtual trade blockade of these countries. True to its internationalist duty and concerned for the interests of socialism, the Soviet Union has rendered and continues to render these countries extensive assistance in economic development and in surmounting post-war difficulties. Czechoslovakia’s political leaders, for instance, have acknowledged that supplies of Soviet wheat in 1947 averted famine in their country. This was a time when due to the crop failure there was an acute shortage of grain in the Soviet Union itself. A further manifestation of internationalism was the assistance to Czechoslovakia in 1969 when, as a result of the actions of Right-wing forces, that country’s economy experienced serious difficulties.

p Many examples of this kind may be given. Worker, organ of the US Communists, wrote that Soviet assistance had enabled Cuba, the courageous builder of socialism in Latin America, to repulse her powerful imperialist neighbour and embark on the building of the new society.  [274•** 

p The concept of an integral socialist system acquired prominence in the relations between the people’s democratic states as early as 1947, when the question of political power had been decided in most of the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe liberated by the Soviet Army. The principles which later underlay the unity of the socialist countries emerged and took shape in the process of the formation of a system of alliances. Considerations of foreign policy alone made solid international unity a vital need for all the People’s Democracies. Without such unity and cooperation no People’s Democracy could seriously contemplate successful economic development or a secure international position. In face of the policy of economic blockades pursued by the West no People’s Democracy could build socialism successfully without co-operating with the Soviet 275 Union. For the USSR, too, the consolidation of the emergent system of socialist states was a key issue of foreign policy.

p The unity of the socialist countries, the strengthening of all the links between them and their conversion into a single force on the world scene were an objective law of the development of the world socialist revolution and of the intensification of the world-wide struggle between capitalism and socialism.

p Each socialist country regarded its interests as part of the common interests of the socialist camp. With international relations more and more acquiring the nature of a struggle between the two systems there is, as there has been, a steadily growing need for unity among the socialist countries.

p Closer economic integration of the socialist countries is another law of world socialism. This integration is an objective process that takes place with the demolition of the barriers, which are intrinsic to capitalism and hamper the operation of general economic laws. One of these laws is the growth of the volume and scale of production and its steady improvement on the basis of up-to-date equipment. The efficacy of economic development increases in proportion to the growth of production capacities and the expansion of assembly-line production. Socialist integration creates a sufficiently wide and profitable market for the economies of all socialist countries. Scientists have computed that in the light of the scientific and technological revolution the development of branches of large-scale production is economically profitable only if it is programmed for a population of at least 100 million. The scale of the socialist market provides the most favourable opportunities for the development of all branches of the modern economy.

p Taking place under optimally favourable political conditions, socialist integration accelerates the development of individual countries through a rational division of labour and fraternal mutual assistance and by making the experience of each country available to all. As distinct from capitalist integration, socialist integration envisages the harmonious economic development of each country and creates every possibility for promoting social relations and resolving pressing political problems.

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p Lastly, economic integration makes the socialist countries more independent of the capitalist world and guarantees their independent development and national sovereignty. As Todor Zhivkov said at the 1969 International Meeting in Moscow, “socialist economic integration is essential for promoting the economic development of our countries and of our entire community; it is an important factor of our independence from the capitalist economy”.  [276•* 

p Economic co-operation among the fraternal socialist countries is fostered through the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which was set up in 1949. There have been several stages in the operation of this agency. The first stage, embracing the period up to the second half of the 1950s, witnessed the development of foreign trade and the formation of individual industries. Co-operation was effected primarily in trade, and comradely assistance was rendered in economic development.

p The expansion of the economies of the socialist countries and the appearance of new industries made it possible to widen co-operation from the end of the 1950s onwards. The CMEA members began to co-ordinate their economic development plans more closely and to sign five-year trade agreements with each other.

p The harmonious combination of the interests of all countries and nations, big and small, and the consolidation of friendship among peoples likewise constitute a law of the development of the socialist community.

p This is determined by the character of the relations and aims of the socialist countries, by the nature of these countries, by the absence of objective contradictions between them and by socialism’s objective need for the promotion of broad economic, political and cultural links on the basis of mutual assistance and respect for the interests of each country. This is manifested by the fact that in the process of co-operation account is taken of all the possibilities and requirements of individual socialist countries. Mutual benefit in economic relations is gauged not only by purely economic 277 but also by political and moral criteria. The policy of the socialist countries is aimed entirely at establishing genuine equality among themselves. This eliminates elements of distrust and hostility and establishes lasting friendship.

p The attainment of a uniform level of economic and cultural development is yet another law, which expresses itself in the fact that under equitable and mutually beneficial co-operation the less developed countries receive relatively more assistance and support from the more developed countries than their own contribution to such cooperation. They are able to surmount their backwardness at a much more rapid rate than the rates characterising th^ economy and culture of the more developed countries. Cooperation and specialisation of production between more and less developed socialist countries allow the latter to advance more rapidly.

p The constant exchange and accumulation of collective experience, which forms an international and national treasure-store, are an important law of world socialism This exchange covers the most diverse spheres and is effected in many forms: exchange of documentation, scientific and other conferences, the broad dissemination of scientific and political literature, and so on. The experience of each country is placed at the disposal of all the others voluntarily and in its full volume. Its analysis and application by other countries facilitate and expedite socialist construction. Collective experience helps to ascertain laws of socialist construction common to all countries and governing the concrete experience of each country.

p The leading role of the Communist parties in regulating all the processes taking place in the socialist countries is among the laws of the development of world socialism. This role is implemented through constant contacts and cooperation at the level of the Central Committees of the fraternal parties and through the Warsaw Treaty Organisation and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, This co-operation provides for regular and exhaustive analyses of the basic problems of the development of the socialist community, the determination of policy in the various spheres of the life of socialist society, consideration for mutual interests and the settlement of possible disputes. 278 “This co-operation,” L. I. Brezhnev said at the 24th Congress of the CPSU, “enriching us with each other’s experience has enabled us jointly to work on the fundamental problems of socialist and communist construction, to find the most rational forms of economic relations, collectively to lay down a common line in foreign affairs, and to exchange opinion on questions relating to the work in the sphere of ideology and culture.”  [278•* 

p Lastly, an operating law of world socialism calls for close co-operation between socialist countries in foreign policy and in military matters. Such co-operation is qualitatively different from the co-operation between capitalist countries belonging to various economic and military blocs. It rests on a class foundation, mirrors the interests of the proletariat and, therefore, represents inter-state relations of a new type.

p Enlarging on Lenin’s teaching of internationalist unity and co-operation for the repulsion of aggressors, the socialist countries utilise a system of collective defence. A major phase in the establishment of this system was the conclusion, in 1955, of the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance, which reliably safeguards the gains of socialism and is a powerful factor of security in Europe and other continents.

p Imperialism’s policy towards the socialist countries aims to disunite them, isolate them from the USSR and destroy socialism as a world system. The independence and very existence of the Communist and Workers’ parties and the sovereignty, national independence and development potentialities of the socialist states are unremittingly attacked and threatened by the reactionary circles of the capitalist countries, by world imperialism. The imperialists are well aware that they can achieve their counter-revolutionary plans against the world socialist system only if they form a breach and provoke contradictions between the socialist countries. This is the objective of the strategy of “selective coexistence”, “bridge building”, “new Eastern policy" and so on.

p US foreign and military policy, which seeks to utilise differences and contradictions in the socialist camp, never had and has no prospect of success.

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p In face of imperialism’s preparations for war and the formation of aggressive blocs the socialist countries have had to take steps to improve co-operation in the sphere of defence. Joint military exercises with the involvement of all arms of the service, exchanges of knowhow in military and political training and mutual assistance in the training of military cadres have become a standing rule of the Warsaw Treaty armies. This is helping to further the might of the socialist community. The world socialist system’s military strength is today an important factor of international politics. It exercises a restraining influence on the aggressive circles of imperialism and thereby creates favourable conditions for the development of the world revolution.

p The attempts of some theoreticians to counterpose socialist development in one country to the development of the entire community and pursue a “neutral” course cannot but weaken the influence of world socialism. Moreover, these attempts jeopardise socialism in their own country, reduce the possibilities of defending and improving it and open the door to action by non-socialist forces. It was not accidental that in Czechoslovakia counter-revolutionary and revisionist elements sought gradually to weaken socialism with the aim, above all, of tearing that country away from the socialist camp. Relations with neighbouring socialist states were deliberately aggravated and the principal object was to secure a detente with the Federal Republic of Germany. The interests of the German Democratic Republic were openly ignored.

p Practice has shown that economic and political cooperation between socialist countries does not always develop smoothly. Contradictions may arise when concrete tasks of socialist construction are being resolved with the view of combining national and international interests. However, as was emphasised in the Document of the 1969 International Meeting, socialism is free of the contradictions intrinsic to capitalism. All divergences between socialist countries can and must be successfully settled on the basis of proletarian internationalism, through comradely discussion and voluntary, fraternal co-operation. They cannot be allowed to break the united front of socialist states against imperialism.

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Communists see the difficulties in the development of the world socialist system, but, as L. I. Brezhnev noted at the 24th Congress of the CPSU, “the common social system, and the identity of basic interests and purposes of the peoples of the socialist countries make it possible successfully to overcome these difficulties and steadily to advance the cause of developing and strengthening the world socialist system”.  [280•*