131

[introduction.]

p The relations of friendship and mutual assistance which arose during the joint effort of the USSR and the People’s Democracies in building socialism and communism make up the qualitatively new content which proletarian internationalism acquired in the world socialist system. It is no longer a matter of moral and political mutual assistance, of proletarian solidarity of the workers of all countries, but of all-round mutual support and assistance of free and sovereign peoples in building the new life, in raising the economy of 132 backward countries to the level of the industrially developed states, in the eiiort to extend the revolutionary gains and defend them from encroachments of both international and internal reactionaries.

p Consequently, today the concept of proletarian internationalism has become immeasurably richer and broader. History has shown that socialist internationalism best of all contributes to combining effort for the economic and political development of each country with the common effort to strengthen fraternal co-operation and mutual assistance of socialist states.

p Today, the socialist states have entered a period when their economic co-operation is rising to a new, higher level, largely because such lorms of co-operation and mutual assistance as co- ordination of national economic plans, the international socialist division of labour, industrial co-operation and specialisation are becoming the chief forms of economic co-operation and increasingly represent the requisites for the development of socialist integration.

p The peoples of the Soviet Union are implementing a sweeping programme of building the material and technical basis of communism. Most of the People’s Democracies stand at the threshold of completing the construction of socialism and the gradual transition to building communism. Close co-ordination of national economic plans, including long-term programmes, provides a tangible foundation for concerted action in socialist and communist construction and for further successes. The time is not too distant when a single socialist world economy regulated by a common plan will be created.

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p The development of close economic co- operation is increasingly strengthening fraternal relations among the socialist countries in political, cultural and military spheres. All forms and methods of intercourse among socialist states will be further improved.

p The political relations existing between socialist countries are an embodiment of the new diplomacy conceived by socialism. It differs essentially from the diplomacy of the bourgeois world and reflects the direct, candid and honest fraternal relations between states of a new type.

p The characteristic features of the politics and diplomacy of the socialist community are constant concern for the consolidation of economic, political, military and cultural relations, business-like and frank discussion of pertinent problems, common striving for just solution of all problems in the interest of encouraging fraternal ties, the rendering of constant and effective assistance to each other internationally, and co-ordination of a fundamental line on major foreign-policy problems.

p Faced with the growing forces of world socialism, the defenders of capitalism resort to lies, slander and deception, the favourite methods of bourgeois diplomacy, and explore ways for uniting the forces of the old world under the banner of anti-communism. There is reason why so much is written in the West about the need for co- ordinating the policy of the capitalist countries. Konrad Adenauer in an article contributed to the American journal Foreign Affairs wrote that "it is necessary for Europe to create a strictly co-ordinated policy with regard to vital problems, and especially in foreign policy”. Such is the main idea 134 of a plan for creating an alliance of European capitalist states to strengthen political co- operation.

p It must be noted that the Western powers do succeed to some extent in “co-ordinating” their international actions. Despite the sharp inter- imperialist contradictions they at times find a common language, especially with regard to hostile actions against the USSR and other socialist states. They act more or less in concert, for example, in inventing new pretexts for dragging out a solution of the disarmament problem or prohibition of all tests and use of nuclear weapons, in resisting the elimination of the remnants of the Second World War, in fighting against the national liberation movement and jointly trying to implant neo-colonialism in young Afro-Asian states.

p It is such common action, the allocation of roles in the struggle against the forces of socialism, national liberation, democracy and peace, that imperialist leaders have in mind when they speak of a "co-ordinated policy”. Anti-communism underlies the “common” policy of the imperialist powers. Today, all enemies of social progress are united under the banner of anti-communism: the financial oligarchy and the military, fascists and reactionary clericals, colonialists and landowners, all ideological and political accomplices of imperialist reaction.

p Thus, “unity” in the Western world is a kind of union of the doomed in the struggle against the new, socialist world for the prevention of mankind’s progressive development. It is, moreover, a union rent by internal strife. It is based on infringing the sovereignty and suppressing the 135 independence of small and medium capitalist states in carrying out the aggressive policy of the imperialist powers, the United States first and foremost. That is why this “unity” cannot be strong and enduring.

p Unity of the socialist countries, however, fully accords with the interests of their peoples, the interests of peace and mankind’s social progress. It is based on their socio-economic, political and ideological community, which creates an objective foundation for firm and truly fraternal relations. This unity, in turn, gives rise to a unity of the main foreign-policy aims based on socialist internationalism within the community and on peaceful coexistence with the capitalist states.

p Proletarian internationalism is the ideology and policy of the international solidarity of the working people of all countries. It defines the nature and content of relations between states of the same class type in which the people headed by the working class are in power, and the attitude of the working people of other countries to the existing socialist states.

p Peaceful coexistence can operate only in relations between states of the two opposing socioeconomic systems while the social and political problems now dividing mankind have to find their solution through internal development in the capitalist world.

Proletarian internationalism implies support to the policy of peaceful coexistence as a policy meeting the interests of the working people of all countries. The Soviet Union and other socialist countries regard peaceful coexistence of states with differing social systems as a form of the class struggle between socialism and capitalism, 136 and at the same time consistently advocate the maintenance of normal peaceful relations with capitalist countries. The policy of peaceful coexistence reflects the vital interest of socialist states in preserving peace for constructive labour, their desire to save mankind from a nuclear holocaust. It is a manifestation of the humanism of socialist foreign policy, the basis for the joint coordinated international actions of the USSR and other socialist countries.

Internationalism and
Socialist Diplomacy

p Socialist internationalism is the essence of the tremendous diversity ot forms and methods of relations between the fraternal countries, including the nature of their diplomatic ties. Socialist diplomacy, a major means of implementing foreign policy, serves to sterngthen truly equal and fraternal relations between the USSR and other socialist states. It is one of the constantly operating factors in the development of the socialist community.

p The diplomacy of all members of the socialist community has common foundations and principles. Each of them implements a foreign-policy programme resting on the same Leninist principles as the foreign policy of the others. It is this meaning that is invested in the concept " socialist diplomacy”, which above all incorporates the common features that stem from the principles of socialism’s foreign policy and comprises the basis of the diplomacy of each socialist country.

p Quite a few different definitions of diplomacy are given in foreign and Soviet literature.  [136•1  137 Today, however, it is not enough to confine oneself to a definition of diplomacy in general. Such an approach was to some extent justified in the past when the diplomacy of the old world dominated international relations in the main.

p At present it is more correct to approach in a differentiated way an analysis of diplomatic practices of states belonging to different socio- economic systems. Moreover, the diplomacy of young developing countries, which has many original and specific features, is also an essential factor today.

p Socialist diplomacy represents the sum total of ways and means of implementing the aims and tasks of the foreign policy of socialist states with 138 regard to the socialist countries themselves, to developing states, and also in interstate relations of socialism and capitalism.

p Partisanship and guidance by the Communist and Workers’ Parties is a distinction of socialist foreign policy and diplomacy. Lenin attached great significance to the collective discussion and settlement of questions of foreign policy and diplomacy, always underlining the leading, guiding role of the Party and its Central Committee in pursuing the Soviet state’s foreign policy and in the activities of Soviet diplomacy.

p Party leadership of foreign policy and the combining in this activity of state and Party guidance signify first of all collective discussion and solution by the principal Party bodies of all fundamental questions of policy and diplomacy, and the carrying out of foreign-policy actions along state lines through the government and its special departments which have the requisite powers and personnel.

p From this it does not follow that all socialist countries have one and the same foreign policy and that the diplomatic practices of one country in no way differ from those of others. Such a notion of foreign policy and diplomacy of the socialist countries is absurd. It is spread by reactionary bourgeois propaganda and is designed to belittle the steadily increasing role of the diplomacy of each socialist country in international affairs and to sow discord between the peoples of the socialist countries.

p We often also use the term "bourgeois diplomacy”, but no one can assert that all capitalist countries—from the United States to Liechtenstein— follow one and the same diplomatic line, that the 139 diplomacy and foreign policy of these countries are identical. The foreign policy of France, for example, has in recent years diverged in many respects from that of the United States, Britain and the FRG. Denmark does not and, moreover, cannot apply the same foreign policy as the United States. The policy of Finland in many respects differs from the course pursued in foreign affairs by other capitalist states. Such are the realities, although in all these countries the ruling classes naturally apply a foreign policy and diplomacy which correspond to the nature of the incumbent regime.

p In assessing the policy and diplomacy of a country we proceed from Lenin’s statement that politics is the basic course of a state, a definition of the forms, tasks and content of the state’s activities which, in turn, depend on the socio-economic system of the given country.

p The existence of a common basis for foreign policy and diplomacy in the world socialist system, far from diminishing the independent role of the diplomacy and foreign policv of each socialist country, on the contrary, helps to strengthen the positions of all these states in foreign affairs and raises the efficacy of their actions.

p Speaking of the diplomacy of a socialist country, we must not confine ourselves to statements which give only a general idea of socialist diplomacy. The diplomacy of each socialist state is action in foreign affairs taken along the lines of co-ordinated activities of the countries in the community for the purpose of solving general problems (consolidation of peace, disarmament, prohibition of the use and manufacture of nuclear weapons, European security, final abolition of 140 colonialism, etc.) and also action designed to settle specific questions of foreign policy facing the given country or group of countries.

p “Our opponents and even some of our wellwishers,” writes Gyula Kallai, Hungarian political leader, "ask: is there an independent Hungarian foreign policy?

p “Yes, there is. The fact that in international affairs we take a common stand with the most progressive forces, the countries of the world Socialist system, in no way detracts from the independence of our foreign policy. On the contrary, it is independent and national because the world Socialist system, apart from serving the general interests of peace and progress, also serves Hungary’s specific interests. This makes our independence firm and reliable. Although ours is a small country, we enjoy genuine international prestige and our voice in world affairs is heeded for the first time in history.”  [140•1 

p National foreign-policy distinctions depend on the specific features in the development and the tasks facing each fraternal country. They are dictated by many historically-shaped political, economic and geographical factors. Here there must be no stereotype, no classification according to a priori schemes. Relations between fraternal countries and their development are an intricate and many-sided process, they require close attention and a differentiated analysis and appraisal.

p That relations between socialist countries are determined by socialist internationalism, far from weakening, enhances the operation of the general democratic principles of international law, like 141 equality, respect for independence and sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, and so on. It is also important to note that within the socialist community political, economic and cultural ties between countries are not stereotyped, they cannot develop identically. Many factors play a part, including the level of economic and cultural development, traditions in relations between countries, and distinctions in ties with neighbours.

p Let us take as an example the relations between socialist countries formalised by treaties. The European socialist states are bound by bilateral treaties of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance. Moreover, in 1955 they concluded a defence alliance, the Warsaw Treaty. This is explained by their special interest in preventing aggression of the West German militarists and revanchists and in safeguarding European security. On the other hand, not all European socialist countries are in a military and political alliance with Asian People’s Democracies. The Soviet Union is the exception here. Similarly, the socialist countries which now have the most favourable conditions for co-ordinating plans and industrial co-operation are members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

p Socialist diplomacy acts on the principle that the unity of socialist countries is ensured only through the strengthening of their sovereignty and equality. The very nature of the interstate relations and the laws governing the economic and political development of socialist countries are incompatible with diplomatic actions that infringe upon the interests of other states and peoples, with diktat and blackmail, hypocrisy and lies—methods inherent in the diplomatic practices 142 of Western countries and engendered by the exploiting system, the class nature of the capitalist states.

p What are the main lorms and methods of the diplomacy of socialist countries in relations with one another?

p At first glance socialist states employ the traditional forms of ties inherent in classical diplomacy. Indeed, such diplomatic practices as international conferences, diplomatic correspondence, the preparation and conclusion of international treaties and agreements, diplomatic missions and their activities, participation in the work of international organisations and political alliances, are also widely applied in relations among states of the socialist community. But they radically differ from the same forms when they are employed by bourgeois diplomacy.

p Let us take the main method of diplomatic work—negotiation. A characteristic feature of the method of negotiation in the capitalist world is the desire of the imperialist powers to utilise the whole arsenal of diplomatic methods of the exploiting society, based on the strength of some countries and the weakness of others, namely, diktat, arm twisting, secret compacts, deception of public opinion.

p It is characteristic that among European politicians the most zealous votaries of an alliance with the United States as the strongest imperialist power constantly claim that nowadays such concepts as sovereignty and national independence are an anachronism. Paul-Henri Spaak, a noted leader of West European diplomacy, writes: "What I wish to condemn is an idea which is untenable in the twentieth century—the idea 143 that individual peoples, no matter how strong, can solve by their own efforts alone the political, military and economic problems they encounter.”  [143•1  Spaak makes short shrift of the sovereignty of states, branding as “nationalism” any manifestation of a policy which goes beyond the bounds of the "Atlantic Alliance”.

p This thesis is championed strongly by the ideologists of American imperialism. ".. . An international system based on unlimited national sovereignty has become an intolerably dangerous anachronism (my italics—Sh.S.) in the nuclear age,” so writes J. William Fulbright, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in his book Prospects for the West, "not only for small nations, but for great nations as well, indeed especially for great nations. ... If we are to survive under these conditions the nation-state can no longer serve as the ultimate unit of law and human association.”  [143•2 

p It is not difficult to divine the meaning and purpose of such "theoretical discoveries”. They are designated to justify Washington’s diktat in the Western world, the plans for introducing American supremacy in the world under the signboard of "world order”.

p “World order”, in the lexicon of American ruling circles, implies the unlimited diktat of the United States. Self-determination, equality, national independence and state sovereignty were long ago proclaimed "old-fashioned nationalism”, while political leaders who champion these principles are considered "potential enemies of the 144 free world”. "Men must learn.” Walt Rostow, former chairman of the State Department Policy Planning Council, writes, "that at this period of history, simple, old-fashioned nationalism is a peculiarly unsatisfactory basis for solving problems in a highly interdependent world. . .. Simple, old-fashioned nationalism is potentially disruptive.”  [144•1  “Interdependence”, in fact, signifies making all Western countries dependent on the United States. These “theoretical” precepts determine the essence of Washington’s diplomacy.

p In the world socialist system the settling of questions through negotiation objectively becomes the only method. The use of force, threats, pressure and the like run counter to the spirit of socialist politics and diplomacy. Socialist diplomacy can discharge its mission only if pursued in conditions of full equality and the striving of fraternal countries to settle all questions in the interest of strengthening the world socialist community.

p The activities of diplomatic missions of fraternal countries in socialist states have their specific features. The functions of diplomatic missions have been considerably extended, the forms and methods of their work have become more diversified and the range of questions they daily handle has been broadened. This is natural because relations between socialist countries consist both of interstate ties, and of relations between fraternal Parties.

p The interstate and inter-Party relations of fraternal countries and Parties are closely intertwined. The ideology and practical activities of the ruling Communist and Workers’ Parties 145 underlie the entire foreign policy of socialist states. This is one of the decisive factors ensuring the community of basic interests of membres of the world socialist system.

p It does not follow, however, that interstate and inter-Party relations in the world socialist system are identical. These are different spheres, although the close and unbreakable connection between them offers socialist international relations inestimable advantages.

p Lenin pointed out that "the working people must not forget that capitalism has divided nations into a small number of oppressor Great- Power (imperialist), sovereign and privileged nations, and an overwhelming majority of oppressed, dependent and semi-dependent, non-sovereign nations. ... For centuries the indignation and distrust of the non-sovereign and dependent nations towards the dominant and oppressor nations have been accumulating.. .”.  [145•1 

p The grave legacy of the past is being successfully eliminated in the joint struggle of the peoples for socialism. This is not a swift process, however. It would be wrong to claim that the survivals of the past have been fully eliminated in relations between socialist peoples, and that they have been fully brought up in the spirit of internationalism. Lenin pointed out: "We want a voluntary union of nations—a union which precludes any coercion of one nation by another—a union founded on complete confidence, on a clear recognition of brotherly unity, on absolutey voluntary consent. Such a union cannot be effected at one stroke; we have to work towards it with the greatest patience 146 and circumspection, so as not to spoil matters and not to arouse distrust, and so that the distrust inherited from centuries of landowner and capitalist oppression, centuries of private property and the enmity caused by its divisions and redivisions may have a chance to wear off.”  [146•1 

National mistrust is worn off in the course of joint struggle for upholding the great revolutionary gains, in joint actions against international imperialist reaction, the joint effort to build socialism and communism. Only joint struggle shows the working people the great need for close union of all socialist countries—economic, political and military—as a guarantee of their independence. The systematic education of the working people in the spirit of proletarian internationalism is of great significance.

Internationalism and
Socialist Patriotism

p In its definition of the general Hne of the Communist Party of the ooviet Union, the building of communist society, the Programme of the CPSU notes the special importance of educating the working people in the spirit of internationalism, socialist partriotism and intolerance of all manifestations of nationalism and chauvinism.

p Under socialism the operation of objective laws of social development brings about a new relationship between two tendencies: to unite countries and peoples, their striving to draw closer together and to maintain constant ties, on the one hand and to preserve independence and sovereignty, on the other. While in bourgeois society these tendencies are irreconcilable, under 147 socialism they are organically combined; it is therefore possible to eliminate both nationalism and cosmopolitanism, and foster socialist patriotism and proletarian internationalism.

p Nationalism and cosmopolitanism are manifestations of bourgeois ideology and always serve the interests of the exploiting classes, while patriotism and internationalism are their antitheses in class essence and they meet the interests of the proletariat and of socialism.

p Patriotism and internationalism are historical categories. They have appeared at different times and in different socio-economic conditions. Patriotism originated in hoary antiquity; in the course of history its class content and forms have changed. Socialist patriotism is the supreme manifestation of patriotism.

p Internationalism arose only recently, in the bourgeois epoch, together with the ideology of the working class, Marxism, when the proletariat became aware that it was an international force opposed to the international force of capitalism. It has also passed a number of stages, each one having its distinctions emanating from the development level of the world revolutionary and working-class movement.

p After the formation of the world socialist system the concept of proletarian internationalism began to include not only the international solidarity of workers of various countries, but also the content, nature and trend of relations between states of the socialist community. This, naturally, also told on the driving forces of socialist society. Driving forces like collective labour based on socialist property, moral and political unity and friendship of socialist nations, operate in every 148 socialist country. They promote the constant strengthening and expansion of relations of comradely mutual assistance and co-operation, the unity and solidarity of the working people of all socialist nations in an effort to solve major problems facing each socialist country and all of them. Friendship of socialist nations and collective work in conditions of the international socialist division of labour are factors that operate on the scale of the entire world socialist system, facilitating the further strengthening of the unity, mutual assistance and fraternal co-operation of the peoples and states of the socialist community.

p The same applies to socialist patriotism. In the world socialist system it is inseparable from socialist internationalism; they determine and supplement each other. Socialist patriotism is the direct antithesis of nationalism and chauvinism. Patriotism is a socially historical, class phenomenon. This, Lenin pointed out, "is one of the most deeply ingrained sentiments, inculcated by the existence of separate fatherlands for hundreds and thousands of years".  [148•1  The social content of patriotism has changed with the change in historical conditions. When nations were shaped and national states created, the bourgeoisie utilised patriotism in the struggle against feudalism and feudal fragmentation, for uniting nationalities into modern nations. At that time it was subordinated to the class needs of incipient capitalism, to the selfish interests of the exploiting classes. The young bourgeoisie exploited the popular patriotic sentiments in the struggle against feudalism and for the establishment of its rule.

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p The class nature of bourgeois “patriotism” became very clear in the imperialist epoch when the ruling circles of imperialist states, behind the cover of false statements about love for one’s country, utilised patriotism for enslaving and oppressing peoples of other countries, for exonerating imperialist piracy. The mind of the masses was poisoned by slogans like "my country right or wrong”, intended to justify the enslavement of other peoples.

p Even prior to the First World War Lenin exposed the hypocrisy of the imperialist bourgeoisie’s “patriotism”. He laid bare the true essence of the bourgeois slogan of "defence of the fatherland”, demonstrating how the ruling classes utilised national prejudices to divert the proletarian masses from accomplishing their class tasks and to force them to serve the interests of the exploiters. Lenin debunked the two “extreme” positions which existed in the Social-Democratic movement at the time: those who defended the fatherland, on the one hand, and those who ignored the national factor, on the other.

p Lenin examined defence of the fatherland from the viewpoint of the class struggle and the class interests of the proletariat. "The fatherland, i. e., the given political, cultural and social environment,” Lenin pointed out, "is a most powerful factor in the class struggle of the proletariat.. . The proletariat cannot be indifferent to the political, social and cultural conditions of its struggle; consequently it cannot be indifferent to the destinies of its country. But the destinies of the country interest it only to the extent that they affect its class struggle, and not in virtue of some bourgeois 150 ‘patriotism’, quite indecent on the lips of a SocialDemocrat.”  [150•1 

p The intrinsic patriotism of the working class and its political vanguard is fully subordinate to the interests of the revolutionary liberation of the working people from the oppression of capital, of winning power by the proletariat and establishing a new, socialist system, in other words, socialist patriotism. In Russia, socialist patriotism developed after the October Revolution. For the first time in history, the working masses created their own truly socialist fatherland, love for which merged with devotion to the socialist system. This provided the basis for the development of Soviet patriotism which became one of the driving forces of socialist society.

p Consequently, with the victory of the proletariat and the establishment of the dictatorship of the working class, patriotism becomes qualitatively different from the patriotism characteristic of the proletariat in the period of capitalism’s rule. Patriotism which has emerged in the new, socialist system has facilitated not merely the unprecedented labour uplift in building the new society, and acceleration of the Soviet Union’s economic and cultural development. It has been an important factor, too, in welding together the different nations into one multinational family of the peoples of the Soviet Union, one of the primary elements in Soviet society’s moral and political unity.

p In the years of gravest danger for the USSR, during foreign military intervention, civil war and especially the Great Patriotic War, the life- 151 giving force of Soviet patriotism was displayed to the full. But it was no less clear that this patriotism is of a profoundly international nature. Not only the destiny of the Soviet state, not only the future of the great revolutionary gains of the Soviet people, but also the destinies of many peoples and the future of socialism in general were decided in the war against nazi Germany.

p Soviet patriotism represents the Soviet people’s boundless love for, and devotion to, their Homeland, to the cause of socialism and communism. Engendering mass heroism at the front and in the rear, it formed the basis of unexampled bravery and courage which made possible the great victory over the chief strike force of world imperialism, nazi Germany. Such patriotism has nothing in common with parochialism and national prejudice. During the Great Patriotic War the Soviet people, defending their Homeland, thereby also discharged their internationalist duty to the working peoples of other countries enslaved by the nazis and also to the German people and the peoples of the countries belonging to the anti-Hitler coalition, to mankind. The great liberation mission performed by the Soviet Armed Forces was the supreme manifestation of the Soviet people’s internationalism.

p Love for the Socialist Homeland and sentiments of fraternal solidarity with the working people of other countries, characteristic of Soviet patriotism from the very beginning, deepened as the world socialist system grew. In the new conditions socialist patriotism cannot be confined to the bounds of one country. Now that the world community of socialist countries exists, the patriotism of their peoples increasingly draws closer to socialist 152 internationalism and depends on the attitude of the members of society both to their own country and to the entire socialist community.

p The concept of patriotism is thus enriched with new content. "In fostering the Soviet people’s love of their country,” it is pointed out in the Programme of the CPSU, "the Party maintains that with the emergence of the world socialist system the patriotism of the members of socialist society is expressed in devotion and loyalty to their own country and to the entire community of socialist countries. Socialist patriotism and socialist internationalism necessarily imply proletarian solidarity with the working class and the working people of all countries.”  [152•1 

p Patriotism in respect of the entire community of socialist states increasingly spreads among members of socialist society whatever country they live in. The achievements of every socialist country evoke pride, just as the reverses and difficulties are taken to heart. The Soviet people rejoice in the labour accomplishments of the peoples of the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Poland and other socialist countries. They are always ready to come to their aid if their socialist gains are threatened. Unhesitatingly Soviet people shed their blood in the struggle against the Hungarian counter-revolution which in 1956 let loose brutal terror, when the imperialists tried to abolish socialism in Hungary.

p In their turn, the peoples of other socialist states consider each victory of the Soviet people in communist construction as one more contribution to the common cause. Indicative in this respect is 153 the patriotic uplift aroused in all socialist countries by the great achievements of Soviet science and technology in exploring outer space, which is a success for the entire socialist community.

p The working people of other socialist countries enthusiastically acclaim the labour achievements of the Soviet people, their economic plans. Thus, Y. Tsedenbal, First Secretary of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, addressing the 23rd Congress of the CPSU, said about the Directives of the Soviet Union’s new five-year plan: "The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and the Mongolian people sincerely take as much pride in the successes of their loyal friend, the heroic Soviet people, as they do in their own successes, as in the successes of all progressive forces of the world, because the historic gains of the Soviet Union decisively augment the might of world socialism and weaken the positions of international imperialism.”  [153•1 

p Extension of the concept of socialist patriotism is natural in that it stems from life’s developments, particularly the revolutionary changes effected in the socialist countries and the economic, political and cultural rapprochement of socialist nations. The mounting political and economic consolidation of socialist countries is an objective reality which underlies the world socialist system’s stability and inviolability.

p Like every historical process, however, it is prolonged and intricate. History shows that such processes cannot be accelerated artificially. That can bring the opposite results. Disregard of 154 national specific features, of real differences between nations, attempts to introduce unification by decree can only fan national prejudices.

p National state formations, like national differences, will exist for a long time to come, and national states will serve as an instrument of building communist society. In this sphere, too, the imposing of one country’s will on another is impossible.

p Extension of the concept of socialist patriotism has become possible owing to the establishment of the same socio-economic formation in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and the emergence, on this basis, of interstate relations of fraternal friendship and mutual assistance. A certain share in the accomplishments of each country is contributed by the collective labour of the peoples of other countries. The progress of one member state of the socialist community largely depends on the assistance and support of the peoples of other countries. It is these conditions that made possible the rapid economic advance of the People’s Democracies in historically brief periods, for which many decades and possibly even centuries would have been needed under capitalism.

In the process of moulding the new man. understanding of national duty rises to understanding of the internationalist duty in the mind of socialist society’s members. This process will be speeded up as the separate economies draw closer together and the world communist economy is created, as the material and spiritual aspects of socialist nations merge.