p ...Reciprocal relations between peoples and the world political system as a whole arc determined by the struggle waged by a small group of imperialist nations against the Soviet movement and Soviet states headed by Soviet Russia.

p V. I. Lenin

p The problem of relations between the capitalist and socialist socio-economic systems arose after the October Revolution. The birth of a social system based on socialist principles and diametrically opposed to capitalism brought about a certain dislocation of the axis of contradictions in world politics; the axis moved from the inter-imperialist sphere to that of relations between the two systems. The inter-relations of the capitalist countries with the socialist country now became the main problem or hub of world politics.

p Despite the relative weakness of socialism, represented initially by the sole young Soviet Republic, and the presence of acute contradictions between the biggest imperialist powers, it was the contradiction between the two systems that was of principal importance for understanding the international situation after the socialist revolution.

p “Two camps are now quite consciously facing each other all over the world,” Lenin wrote in 1920.  [150•*  The struggle between these two camps began to determine the basic content of international relations.

p A completely new situation arose in international relations. The international debut of a state with a social system diametrically opposed to capitalism was objectively bound to produce changes in the content and methods of imperialist politics. The categories of international relations customary to capitalism, including those of war and peace, forfeited their former significance in relation to the socialist system, took on a new content and changed their form.

p Until that time, imperialism had known relations of domination and subordination, had known the policy that engendered inter-imperialist wars, wars against small and weak states and colonial wars. Until that time, imperialism had known only a peace ensured by force, between similar countries, or a predatory peace with small or colonial peoples. There now arose the new problem of relations with a socialist state.

p The working class which had created its socialist state also found itself in a basically new situation. It was faced with the question of the character, content and forms of relationships with the countries around it, in which the opposing social system prevailed. The change in the situation following the revolution brought a change in the forms of class struggle: a specific international and political sector of this struggle made its appearance.

p The problem of relations with the capitalist world determined the major content of the theory and practice of the foreign policy of the Soviet Republic at a time when it was surrounded by countries ruled by the hostile capitalist class. Lenin wrote: “Since Soviet power has been established, since the bourgeoisie has been overthrown in one country, the second task is to wage the struggle on a world scale, on a different plane, the struggle of the proletarian state surrounded by capitalist states. This situation is an entirely novel and difficult one.”  [151•* 

p The question now arose of what sort of foreign policy should the proletariat pursue in the sole country where a socialist revolution had triumphed. What attitude to the new state were the imperialist powers to have? What would the 152 relations between the socialist state and the capitalist countries be like? The fate not only of the Russian Revolution, but also of the peoples in other countries and the whole course of international relations depended greatly on the answer to these questions.

p Soviet foreign policy gave a resolute rebuff to attempts by imperialist powers to quash the socialist revolution and at the same time used every possibility to establish peaceful relations with the capitalist states. This policy became an increasingly weighty factor in resolving international problems, a policy with which the bourgeois world was bound to reckon.

p Relations between the Soviet Union and the capitalist world took different forms over the decades that followed. The multiplicity of forms and the differences in level and character of these relations were caused by changes in the historical situation and the nuances of the policy of individual bourgeois states. However, the fact that the world’s only socialist state was economically and militarily much weaker than the advanced capitalist powers left a marked trace on the relations between the Soviet Union and the capitalist world and on all of world politics.

p Since then, the picture has altered very greatly. The overall trend has been a weakening of capitalism and the growth of socialism, the national liberation movement and all forces of social progress, which over the last few decades has irreversibly made its mark on the international scene. The structure of international relations has changed accordingly. New directions and functions have appeared in Soviet foreign policy. The problems of developing and strengthening relations of friendship and co-operation with other socialist states and with the numerous young national states that have arisen on the ruins of the former colonial empires have acquired paramount importance. After the Second World War capitalism was faced with shaping its relations not simply with the Soviet Union, but with other socialist states, and this produced new problems. However, despite the profound and varied world changes, the problem of relations between countries with diametrically opposed systems retains its importance as the major issue of international relations today.

p This is attributable primarily to the class nature of relations between the socialist and capitalist worlds. Despite all the changes in the form and scale of these relations, their social substance has remained unchanged. Lenin made the point that “the forms of the struggle may and do constantly change in accordance with varying, relatively specific and temporary causes, but the substance of the struggle, its class content, positively cannot change while classes exist.”  [153•* 

p The contradiction between imperialism and socialism, the basic contradiction of the world today, is manifested in the sphere of relations between the two systems. The significance of such relations as the major problem of world politics is expressed in the fact that imperialism has had to adapt the whole sphere of inter-imperialist relations to the very existence and foreign policy of socialist states. Since October 1917, the problem of relations between imperialist states could not exist or be resolved without account for the relations between the capitalist and socialist systems. The prime role of the problem of relations between capitalist and socialist countries in the overall complex of international relations became especially clear at the time of the international and political events on the eve of the Second World War.

p In the world today, the imperialist powers are forced to draw up their strategy towards the revolutionary process, whether it is the class struggle within capitalist society or the national liberation struggle, with account for the existence of socialist states and their active foreign policy.

The problem of relations with the capitalist countries is the oldest problem of Soviet foreign policy and retains its relevance for the world of socialism. Relations between the Soviet Union and the major imperialist powers directly affect issues that far exceed the framework of inter-state relations of the two systems. The prevention of a thermonuclear world war greatly depends today on relations between the Soviet Union and the major imperialist powers, in particular, the United States. The fate of socialism, the world 154 revolutionary process and all mankind is linked as never before with the course, prospects and forms of relations between the socialist and capitalist countries.