p According to dialectical materialism, truth gained in the process of knowledge is always related to a definite, 167 concrete sphere of reality which likewise develops in definite conditions. There is no abstract truth, truth is always concrete.

p Is classical mechanics, for example, true? Yes, it is true, but only in definite, concrete spheres of reality, not in all of them. It correctly reflects the movement of macroscopic bodies, but loses its true character in the micro-world. The new, quantum mechanics is true here. And this is the case with any other truth: while correctly reflecting certain concrete phenomena, it is unable to reflect others correctly.

p Even for one and the same process, however, truth cannot be eternal or fixed once and for all. This process itself develops, the conditions in which it takes place change and naturally the truth reflecting it also undergoes change. What was true in certain conditions may become untrue in other changed conditions.

p The principle that truth is concrete is particularly important in the present-day situation for the successful struggle of the peoples for peace, democracy, national liberation and socialism. This principle demands, above all, a correct understanding of the contemporary epoch. The main content of our epoch is the transition from capitalism to socialism, when the world socialist system is turning into the decisive factor of mankind’s development. It is on the basis of these fundamental characteristics of our epoch that Marxist parties solve the fundamental issues of our time, about prospects of the struggle against capitalism and for socialism, and the ways and means of pursuing it, about war and peace, etc.

p Let us take such a cardinal issue of our age as the question of war and peace.

p An analysis of the reactionary essence of imperialism brought Lenin to the conclusion that under imperialism wars are inevitable. He based his conclusion on the existing situation: the imperialists ruled the world, had divided it among themselves and were engaged in a relentless battle for its re-division. In Lenin’s lifetime there was no world socialist system, but even then he predicted that mankind would inevitably be faced with the historic task of turning the dictatorship of the proletariat from a national phenomenon existing in one country into an international one, into a dictatorship of the proletariat existing in at least several 168 advanced countries and capable of exerting influence on all world development.

p Lenin called for a dialectical approach to the question of wars, i.e., for strict account of the concrete historical situation and changes in the balance of forces in the world. This correlation of forces has now radically changed in favour of peace and socialism. A world socialist system has arisen and is vigorously developing, there is a widespread movement of the people for peace, headed by the working class, the most implacable foe of aggressive wars, and the number of peace-loving non-socialist states is growing. All this taken together has given the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and other Marxist parties grounds for concluding that at present war is not fatally inevitable and that conditions exist for preventing war.

p Dogmatists and sectarians are attacking this creative, genuinely Marxist solution of the problem of war and peace. They ignore the new conditions and cling to obsolete conclusions and propositions. Divorced from concrete reality, refusing to see the new correlation of forces in the world, they declare that today, too, wars are inevitable. By denying the possibility of preventing another world war, dogmatists thereby exert a demoralising influence on the working people. Indeed, is it worth building a’new life, if it will be later consumed in the flames of an atomic war?

p Yet the assertion that wars are no longer fatally inevitable does not mean that every possibility of war has been removed: imperialism is still a permanent threat to peace and social progress. Hence the need for an active struggle of the peoples against the danger of war, and for stronger unity of all peace-loving forces.

p Marxist-Leninist parties condemn dogmatism and sectarianism, and in all their multifarious activities consistently apply the principle of a concrete historical approach to reality.

In its internal and foreign policy the CPSU never fails to reckon with concrete historical conditions, the changing objective possibilities, the level of economic development and other social factors. It was with account for concrete historical conditions that the Party carried out important measures which ensured the victory of socialism in the USSR (transition to a new economic policy, NEP, 169 industrialisation and so forth). It was with account for internal conditions and the international situation that plans for building communism are being drawn up and implemented.